Orchard of Mines: Assassins
by Puddlejumper64
Summary: What begins as a search and rescue operation turns into an epic battle for survival as Lloyd, Genis, Marta, and Colette are forced into another world and attacked by rogue assassins. The first chapter of Lyle Connaway's epic story.
1. Preview

Orchard of Mines

Theme Song: Orchard of Mines by Globus

Epic Music That Fits Story: Mars by Audio Network and Revelations by Veigar

Epic Music That Fits Battles: Fahrenheit by Immediate Music and Merchant Prince by Two Steps From Hell

Assassins Arc Preview

Kuchinawa entered the small room at a brisk pace. The floor was covered in a crimson red carpet while the walls and ceiling were made of pearl white marble. The brown wooden desk at the end of the hall was covered with intricate carvings and designs. Various reports, slips, and scraps of paper were piled onto it. A man with graying hair with a short-trim beard and moustache sat behind it, reading and studying whatever held his attention.

Kuchinawa bowed down on one knee and asked, "You summoned me?"

"Yes. A matter has arisen. Tell me, do you know this man?" He picked up a picture and held it out for the man to take. Kuchinawa grabbed it and looked it over. It showed a white man in his early twenties with brown, spiky hair. It showed the top half of his body of which was adorned with a red jacket covered with white, shiny buttons. Only a split-second was needed for him to recognize him.

"Yes. His name is Lloyd Irving. I once dueled against his companion, Sheena Fujibayashi, a long time ago." He then handed the photo back to the old man.

"Then, you know how he fights?"

"I know his battle techniques, yes."

"Then this makes you perfect for your next mission. The orders for this mission are no different than before. You will find him on Earth in the town of Midvale, Idaho in the United States."

"He isn't in Sylvarant or Tethe'alla?"

"Through unfortunate circumstances, he is trapped in that world."

"I see. May I inquire as to how he ended up there?"

"I don't know. She must've brought them there for some reason."

"Shall I investigate that as well?"

"As long as it does not interfere with your mission."

"I see. I shall take my leave, then."

Kuchinawa stood up and walked out. He went to the large waiting room outside and found his companions waiting there. He strode over to them and said, "Sora! Kamiko! Katashi! We have a new target."

Chapter 1 Coming Soon…


	2. Chapter 1

Orchard of Mines: Assassins

Epic Music That Fits Arc: Tikal by E.S. Posthumus

Chapter 1

Lyle opened his eyes, waking from an oddly restful night on his twin bed. For a split second, everything about his life was forgotten. His friends, his family, his entire life was gone. Then it rushed into his mind all at once. He lived in Midvale, Idaho in a Victorian-style house on the outskirts of the town. Suddenly he remembered that it was Monday, the last day of finals at Midvale High School (why does the school district demand the last day be a Monday?) The clock read six o' clock. _Come on, Lyle, _he thought. _Just one more day at school, then you are free to do…whatever it is that you want to do._

He reluctantly stood up and saw that the door was halfway open. His brother, Luke, must have left it open. There he was, sleeping on the other twin bed across the room. Lyle left him alone. He had already graduated from high school. There was no need to bother him. He never intended to go to college so he was currently volunteering at the school so he saw him there from time to time. Lyle snapped out of his thoughts. There was plenty of time to think later. He closed the door and changed out of his pajamas and put on a clean tee shirt, a pair of pants, socks, and tennis shoes.

`He walked out of the door into the hallway. To his right, there was his mom's bedroom. Up ahead, there was the family room and the kitchen nestled in its place around the corner. To his left, there was his brother's, Martin's, bedroom. He, too, had graduated from high school. After resting up a year after he did, he went to Boise State University. However, he didn't like the place and left after a semester. He is looking for a job, right now, though without very much success.

Lyle took a shower last night so he skipped it this morning. He walked out in the family room and saw his mother, Jane, watching TV. The 44-year-old worked at Jim's Market, the grocery store responsible for bringing in enough food to feed the town. She looked over her shoulder and saw him. "Good morning," she said.

"Morning," Lyle replied. He went into the kitchen and started making a bowl of Cinnamon Toasters. "Just one more day after today and summer will begin," he said with a straight face.

"You don't sound very excited," Mom noted.

"What do I have to look forward to other than no school?"

"Well, there was that vacation we were planning to take to Seattle."

"Yeah, but…I don't know. I'm just not excited."

"Well, if you're bored, you can always find a job."

"Oy…"

"I could talk to Jim for you, if you want."

"Yeah, okay."

He finished making the bowl of cereal, sat down on the couch, and ate as he watched the news. The usual news stories were on that morning: a car accident on the highway, an earthquake who-knows-where, and an update on the presidential elections.

Once Lyle finished his cereal, he went into the bathroom. He looked in the mirror and saw a 17-year-old with baggy eyes, red hair, rounded face, and overall smooth features. He brushed his teeth, cleaned his ears, applied deodorant, and combed his hair. Because the lockers were already cleaned out at school, he was only going to bring his black three-ring binder containing everything necessary for finals today: a calculator, pencils, scratch paper, and notes. He grabbed them, said a quick good-bye and "love you" to his mom, and walked out the door.

The first sight that greeted Lyle was the bright yellow ridiculously small house on the other side of the road. It was so tiny that it got a nickname: the "Mouse House." Nobody lived there at the moment and for good reason. Who wants to settle down in a place the size of Rhode Island?

Lyle hurried on his way down the sidewalk-less street. If he hurries, he could meet with his friends before school started. After a few minutes of walking, Midvale came into view. Midvale is one of the smallest towns in Idaho totaling a population of 170 people in the 2000 census. That was ten years ago. Though Lyle didn't know the total population these days, he knew it had expanded by a decent margin.

Traffic was hardly a problem in this place.

"Yo, Lyle! I hardly ever see you down here before school." Lyle turned around and saw Jason walking toward him with his own black binder in hand and wearing his usual green jacket. He had a face that was similar to a dog with glasses. They both walked down the street.

"Oh, hey, Freshman," Lyle responded. "That's because you're usually driven right?"

"'Freshman...' heh, soon you won't be able to call me that."

"When I see you next year, then I'll call you by your real name."

"Whatever." Silence came over them for a time. Then, Jason suddenly started chuckling.

"What? What is it?"

"You remember that prank we did back in grade school?"

"Oh, yeah, you remember the best part?"

"How could I ever forget?"

They went on to describe the whole "incident" all the way to the school.

They both went straight to the library. Students were looking for books to check out, playing Magic cards, or just chewing the fat. Their group of friends: Jill, Samantha, and Sharon were chatting excitedly at one of the tables. Megan was busy writing one of her stories she likes to write now and then at one of the computers, while Mia was—

Suddenly Lyle remembered Mia…and the prom that happened Saturday night. _Oh, no, _he thought. How was he going to explain to her why he couldn't make it? He couldn't say, "I forgot." She would never let him live it down.

Jason noticed something was wrong. "Are you alright?" he asked. "You look pale."

"I'm fine, it's just—"

A voice suddenly came from behind, "YOU! WHERE WERE YOU?"

_Oh, no. _He whipped around and there she was. She was wearing the usual street clothes with a black tee shirt, green jacket, and jeans. Lyle was caught off guard and he was struggling to get a single word out of his mouth. "The one time I went to prom…and you _stood me up?_"

"Mia, let me explain. I,uh,I—" Lyle said the first thing that came to mind. "I forgot." Then Lyle stopped and cursed his luck.

Mia narrowed her eyes and asked, "How would you like to be hit in the gentlemen's department?" Mia took a menacing step towards Lyle and he responded by taking a step backwards. She kept advancing while Lyle continued retreating. If she got within reach, it was over in more ways than one.

"Uh-oh…" It was Jill's voice. He turned around and noticed his friends were watching the situation from their table.

"Don't worry, guys, I got this!" he said, still backing off. "Mia, I didn't forget about the prom!"

"You mean, you skipped out on purpose?"

"No, no, no, no, no! That's not what I meant!"

"Well, what did you mean?"

"I just, I—yeah, I forgot, BUT…" he continued before she could say anything, "I'll make it up to you, somehow."

She took a deep breath calmingly said, "Fine." She began walking towards the table, but then paused. "We'll discuss this later." Lyle sighed with relief as she sat down. Mia had a pretty short temper, but luckily she was easy to defuse.

Jason's voice came from behind him. "That was a close one, huh?"

Lyle twisted himself around to face him and said with a low voice, "You were enjoying that, weren't you?" He gave a little smile and a small chuckle.

Lyle turned back around and found that his friends were staring, even glaring at him. "You never went to prom with Mia?" Jill asked.

Lyle rolled his eyes. "Oh, you're not seriously taking her side, are you?"

"Yeah," Jill, Samantha, and Sharon said in unison.

"You…you don't have to say it all at once! Listen, it was an accident! I didn't mean—" The bell quietly resounded throughout the room. Lyle breathed a sigh of relief. _Saved by the bell. _He wouldn't be seeing them until lunch since he took the basic courses. They were all too smart for that.

Not only was he taking fire from Mia, but his other friends, as well. _Oh, well, _he thought. _This will all blow over soon…in a hurricane._ Lyle had no idea how true that statement was. He went out into the hallway and started making his way to Chemistry.

The hallways were packed with students hesitantly making their way to their classes. Some of the students weren't even moving yet. Those people tend to make groups in the middle of the hallway. That kind of thing annoyed Lyle to no end.

After a couple of minutes and a few grunts of frustration, Lyle finally made his way to the classroom. There was Mr. Black writing standing in front of the board. He was slightly overweight with a head reminiscent of a watermelon topped with brown hair and a moustache. But he was a good teacher. Explaining things in a way that students understand the first time comes naturally to him. He just finished writing out the schedule for the day:

First period—7:50-9:20

Second period—9:25-10:55

Free lunch!—until 11:45

Once the lunch was over, that would be the end of the day. "Good morning, Mr. Black," Lyle said pleasantly.

"Morning, Lyle," he replied. That was all they ever said on a personal level to each other. This was what Lyle considered to be a normal student-teacher relationship.

After a few minutes, most of the students reluctantly sat down at their desks chatting relentlessly. It took just as long for Black to shut them up.

The final test was then handed out. Balancing equations, basic measurements, and chemical compounds dotted the eight pages. The hour-and-a-half seemed to drag on almost tortuously. While Lyle did finish within an hour, all that could be done was sit there and watch the time go by. "Do me a favor, Lyle," he said to himself. "When the madness sets in, just shoot me." That never came true; the madness or the shooting.

Finally, the digital clock on the front of the class reached 9:20 and the bell rang. Lyle was the first out of there and also the first to breathe. Frankly, he was glad to get out of there. But, then, everybody is glad to leave the classroom…only to move on to the next one. The realization of this dropped Lyle's head and forced his legs to inch closer and closer to Ms. Bloomingdale's English class.

He climbed up the stairs, and down the hallways until her classroom door came into view. She was kind of a small lady, in her thirties, and has the softest soul as is possible.

"Hey," was all he said.

"Hello, Lyle," she said. "Whew, finals today. What do you say to that?"

"We- who are about to die- salute you."

She laughed wholeheartedly at that. "Thank you. Well, good luck on the test."

"Yeah, thanks." He went in and sat down at his desk. Bloomingdale dominated his thought processes. Lyle was too kind to end a conversation when he was finished with it. And he didn't feel comfortable talking too long with a teacher. She must have sensed this somehow and limited her talks with him. That's why she is one of Lyle's favorite teachers.

The students reluctantly filed in one after another and settled down in their seats. Once again, the bell rang; and once again, Lyle was subjected to an insanely long session of fill-in-the-blanks, short answers, and an essay. Despite this, it wasn't as bad as the previous test. He kept busy the entire period (as it was a long test) and didn't go nuts after all.

The entire exam was finished except for the essay which was about halfway done. Lyle turned in what he had and made a quick exit. Finally, it was time for lunch.

The cafeteria was on the easternmost side of the grounds. It had plain, old white paint across the walls with cracking blue tiles. Four lines formed there each serving a different kind of food: pizza, grilled, sandwiches, and foreign. Today, Lyle chose to have the orange chicken and rice, apple, and chocolate milk.

He was the first among his friends to arrive at the table. There seemed to be no point in waiting so he went ahead and ate. The apples, rice, and chocolate milk were nothing special. But the orange chicken was one of the best things he's ever had. By the end of the meal, he was sorry it was gone.

"Whoa. You finished that already?" a voice asked him from behind.

Lyle turned around and saw Jason come around and plop his binder on the table. "Once you have this, Freshman, then you won't blame me."

"Again with the 'Freshman,'" he grumbled.

Shortly after Jason got in line, he heard a couple of voices behind him say, "Hello." Lyle twisted around and saw Sharon and Megan approach the table. Sharon was thin, generally wore dark red shirts, blue jeans, and black tennis shoes, and had long flowing pitch-black hair.

Megan was slightly heavier and was wearing a light brown sweatshirt, dark brown jeans, and white shoes. If you look at her from a certain angle, her short, blonde hair reflected the sunlight off of it like a mirror.

"Hey, guys. Were your finals as mind-numbing as mine was?"

"It was…okay," was Sharon's response.

"Not too bad," Megan said.

As they sat down on either side of him, Lyle added, "I swore I would lose it by the end of the day. But I'm pretty sure I passed."

Mia's voice came up, "Hey." She sat down in between Lyle and Megan. "So, any ideas yet, Lyle?"

"Huh?"

She flashed a look of annoyance at him. "Three hours of thinking and no ideas?"

"About wha—oh! Okay, that's not fair! My mind was focused on the test. Not on how I'm going to pay you back."

"Tests usually take an hour to complete. So for one hour of doing absolutely nothing, you never thought about it?"

"It didn't occur to me." Daggers were being thrown out of her eyes. "Hey, hey! Don't look at me like that! I'll think about it tonight, alright?"

Jason approached laughing. "Well, it's obvious who wears the pants in this group."

"How'd you like me to stick a grenade in your ear and find out if it's live?"

Jason sighed deeply and sat down with his food. "You amaze me, sometimes, Lyle. One second, you're quivering like a cornered mouse and the next you go all sarcastic."

"First of all, shut up! I don't quiver! Second of all, really? I never really noticed."

Jason rolled his eyes. "Hardly surprising." He was just about to eat when he looks up and said, "About time you guys showed up."

Lyle twisted around and saw Jill and Samantha approaching with trays in one hand and their binders in the other. "Sorry we're late," Jill said, "we were finishing up the final."

Jill had her long red hair tied up in a ponytail and wore whatever was on top of her clean clothes pile. She may lack style, but the perfect features on her face made up for it.

Samantha was mostly a quiet person, but would chime in a comment every now and again. She wore a gray jacket and black pants and shoes. Her hair was shoulder-length and brown.

"Oh, yeah?" Jason asked.

"Yeah. Why? Is there a problem?"

"No, no. It's not a problem." He took a bite out of the orange chicken. The expression on his face went from a worn-out look to pure joy. "Oh, man. Oh, man, this is great!"

"What'd I tell you?" Lyle said.

"It definitely doesn't compare to those hamburgers." Lyle and Jason laughed at that as they remembered their "incident."

"Oh, _that_," Jill said. "I must have heard that story…uh, too many times to count."

"Same here," Samantha said.

"Wait, wait! _I _haven't heard that story, yet!" Sharon said.

"Oh, yeah," Jason said, "you're new this year, aren't you? Where were you from again?"

"Baker City, Oregon."

"I don't know where that is…" Lyle said, "well, anyway. Here's the story"—groans emanated from around the table—"the food served here at the high school is pretty good. But the elementary school had the worst around. It was _bad_."

"How bad?"

"Well…let's just say you were lucky if you didn't have the 4:00 Barfing. Anyways, Jason, here, was unfortunate enough to sleep in that day. There wasn't any time to make a sack lunch. So he ended having a hamburger served there. I remember that he went on and on about how the hamburgers tasted like rubber. And I said, 'would it really make a difference if they _were_ rubber?' That is when we got the idea.

"We wanted to see what would happen if we switched out the real hamburgers for the rubber ones. So we saved up the money necessary to buy them at the dollar store down the road. Once that was done, we successfully switched them out without the notice of teachers and students alike. That is what we call "the incident."

"Hang on," Sharon said. "How did it end?"

Lyle replied, "I said, 'teachers and students alike,' didn't I?"

It took a split-second for her to click. "Wow," she laughed. "Were there any other pranks?"

"No," Lyle said, "this was the only one Jason and I decided to do, although, it did turn out perfectly."

The conversation carried on like this for a little while longer. Then the subject at hand turned to what trips they planned on taking and when. They then talked about possible days of which they can meet up. Shortly after this was done, the bell rang which meant that all students were released. The group stood up, stacked their chairs, and made their way out the door.

Jill, Mia, Sharon, and Megan all said their good-byes and went down the street while Lyle and Jason went up the opposite way.

As they began making their way to Freshman's house, Lyle noted how bright it is outside and suddenly said, "Oh! I almost forgot I had these!" He pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on.

Freshman spoke up, "Are those new? I've never seen them before."

"Yeah. I got them last weekend in Weiser."

"Oh, okay. They look good. How much did they cost?"

"Um…not sure. Maybe…three bucks? All I remember was that it was a pretty good deal." Then Lyle stopped himself there. There was something more important he needed to talk with him about. "Listen, you're an okay guy and all, but I'm going to need you to watch my back. We've known each other since kindergarten, so you know me. Trouble has a tendency to land in my lap."

"What are you talking about? I've always had your back."

"Like the way you had my back today?" The question was saturated with sarcasm.

"What are you talking about? I helped you out."

"Snickering in the corner like a prepubescent monkey does _not_ qualify as help."

"Oh, well, uh…not to worry! I'll have your back next time!"

"And I thank you from the heart of my bottom."

"No problem—uh, hey, wait a minute!"

"Later, Freshman!" Lyle closed Jason's front door on him as they had arrived at the Freshman's house. Lyle turned around and continued on his way when once again he heard that grating voice, "Hey! I almost forgot to tell you something!"

Lyle whipped back around. "Yeah, what is it?"

"I have a suggestion on how to deal with Mia. Take her to the—whoa…hey, you see that?" Jason stared at something behind Lyle.

He whipped around…and saw his place in perfect view. "See what?"

"There was a flash of lightning right above your house."

Despite the brightness of the day, there were dark clouds rolling in over his house. "There was? Well, rats. I missed it. There isn't a show on earth like a thunderstorm." Lyle took a couple steps forward, then stopped, and turned back around. "Oh! Was there something you wanted to tell me about Mia?"

"Yeah. Take her to the theater in Weiser!"

"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" Lyle resumed his walk home when he heard Jason yell,

"You're welcome, Major Sarcasm!" He whipped out that half-smile that people say "would charm every woman in the world." Finally, after all these years, Jason came up with a great comeback.

It was quiet the rest of the way home. There was virtually no activity going on with the exception of the cows in his neighbor's field and the looming storm cloud. Of which was moving at a faster speed than what Lyle first estimated. He quickened his pace.

Wind began picking up and blew dust in his eyes. Lyle's sunglasses partially blocked the blowing dirt, but he, instinctively, shielded them.

As he was making his way up the hill, the wind paused briefly and he lowered his arms. But once he did, a curious sight greeted him. There was a cat that was white with a spattering of gray up and down the body. But, what made Lyle stop and stare was the look on the cat's face. It wasn't…normal. There was a smart look on its face. It appeared as if there wasn't a feline's mind, but an intelligent, almost human mind beneath that fur.

The wind picked up once again and forced Lyle to shelter his eyes. He slowly made his way through the screen of dust, feeling his way to the house. The house seemed to find him, however, since he suddenly tripped on the stairs leading to the front porch.

It seemed the wind was gusting from the direction of the house, so Lyle was partially protected. He was just about to walk inside, when he laid his eyes on that same cat behind him.

He suddenly found himself considering whether or not to let it in. It looked like a wild cat, so it should be able to weather out the windstorm. But…there was just something about it. It doesn't seem to be tame, but at the same time, it does. This uniqueness seemed to draw Lyle to it.

It walked up to him and laid its paws on his legs pleadingly. There was no question of what it wanted.

_Oh…why not?_ he asked himself.

He turned and knocked on the door. "Who be ye?" a voice from within asked.

"Who be ya?" Lyle replied. The door unlocked and opened revealing Lyle's oldest brother, Martin. The cat suddenly darted inside eager to be out of the storm. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Lyle, get the cat!"

"Oh, let it come inside. It's harmless…or at least, I think it is."

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you let wild cats in?"

"Remind me."

"They peed everywhere. And I mean _everywhere._"

"Yeah, well…this cat's different. It's as if…no, it almost has…it's difficult to put into words. I just don't think it will."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Look at it, man! Look at its face! Then tell me whether or not it's wild!"

Martin had that look on his face. The one that screamed, "Did you pay a visit to the nut farm instead of going to school?" But he looked anyway. He turned back and said, "That's strange. It doesn't…yeah, you're right, it _is _hard to put into words."

"That's what I said."

Lyle suddenly felt something rub against his leg. The cat was reaching up and pawing at him. "I think it wants something," Martin said.

"Well, yeah. Why else would it be doing that?" Lyle bent down and started scratching it on the back of its head. "I've got to come up with a name for you."

"What's going on?" Luke's voice came from the hallway. "What's with the cat?"

"You probably noticed the storm outside," Lyle replied.

"You let it in to give it shelter? Need I remind you what happened last time cats got in the house?"

"No, you don't. I already had this discussion. Right now, I'm focused on thinking up a name for it."

"Let me see it." Luke walked forward and knelt down next to the cat. That's when he looked into the cat's eyes. "That's weird," was all he said. Lyle and Martin exchanged looks. He didn't seem particularly phased by it. He tried to get it to flip over so its back was to the floor. Since that failed, he picked it up, with a cry of protest from the cat, and looked at its more private place.

"It's a girl," Luke said as he put the cat back down.

"You can tell?" Martin asked.

"Yeah. I've been studying animals almost all my life, remember?"

"Well, yeah, but still, how can you tell the difference between a male and female cat?"

"It's the most obvious difference, Martin."

"'The most?' So there are several?" He sighed. "Never mind, I'll just run with it. A girl, it is!"

"What do we call her, then?" Lyle asked.

"How about…" Martin pondered and then turned to Luke. "Hey, what's the girl version of Marco?"

"Marco?" Luke raised an eyebrow.

As if reading his mind, he said, "Because he's a famous explorer. Cats generally love to explore."

"I don't know…Marcia, maybe?"

"That may be it, but I don't like it," Lyle chimed in. "I vote on a different name."

"I second that," Luke said. "There, now I'll give it a shot. How about…Saphira?"

"No way," Lyle said, shaking his head. "I think a real name would be better."

"What do you have in mind?" Martin asked.

"I don't have anything in mind right now. Just give me a moment." During his minute's pondering, Martin and Luke kept on naming off whatever came to their minds. They were on the verge of fighting when Lyle piped up, "Okay, I got it. How about CC? Cool and Calm."

"I don't know about that," Luke said. "She wasn't exactly calm when I picked him up."

"Him?" Martin asked.

"_Her." _ The three laughed a little at that. Once they calmed down, Lyle said, "I still say CC. I mean, look at her now. She's very calm right now. In fact, she's staring at us."

The three suddenly began staring back, slowly leaning in closer and closer. Finally, she had enough and walked away into the kitchen. "Yeah, CC will work just fine, I think," Luke said rather nervously.

"Same here," Martin said, slightly more composed.

"Then, it's official. Oh! Wait! Hang on," Lyle said. He walked past the cat and started rummaging through the pencil basket next to the phone. Then he whirled to face the cat. "Kneel," he said, but ended up kneeling himself. He knighted her. "I dub thee CC of the Connaway Household. Now, rise, female feline." She sneezed. "Eh, close enough. Now, let's see about you getting some food. Martin, do you have any suggestions on what we should feed her?"

"Well, there's fish sticks left over from last night. There's also tuna in the pantry and precooked teriyaki chicken."

"I think the tuna would work just fine." Lyle rummaged through the pantry until finally, the cans of tuna came into view. "Ha ha!" he shouted. "VICTORY IS MINE!" He opened one up and set it on the floor next to the counters. CC immediately started eating appreciatively. "Alrighty, I'm off to my room."

"Wait, wait, wait," Martin said. "Don't you have homework?" Lyle was just about to talk back, but before he could, "Oh, that's right! There were finals today. Never mind. Do whatever you want."

"Right." Then he said with a British accent, "Cheerio!"

"Rather!" Martin replied respectively.

Right before he closed his bedroom door, he heard Luke say, "You guys have a cold?" Lyle burst out laughing. Luke could tell you how many different species of monkey there are, but with every other subject, he was about as smart as one.

Abruptly, Lyle realized that he never took off his sunglasses. He did so and put them on his nightstand.

Lyle laid down on his bed and was immediately deep in thought. _Which movie should I take Mia to see?_ _There are some that looked pretty good like Prince of Persia and Shrek: Forever After. But which one?_

As he was thinking, his gaze drifted over to the wall where the sword hangs. _Wait. No, uh, what was it called again?_ …_Katana! That was it!_

Lyle got up and walked over to it. He lifted it off of the hooks and looked over the plain black sheath. His reflection stared back at him. He ran his hand over it. It never ceased to amaze him at just how smooth it was. Finally, he pulled the katana out a little and gazed at the steel. It shone as if it were polished only yesterday.

Why did he have this? Why does he keep it? There is no purpose in having it remain in his possession. Awhile ago, he would often walk down to the dumpster to throw it away, but he would always end up taking it back. For some reason, he can't bear having it thrown away. Eventually, he just gave up trying.

Lyle snapped out of his thoughts and, after sheathing it, put the sword back on his wall. He laid back down and his bed and resumed his thoughts. _Should he take her to _two _movies?_

But eventually, his thoughts drifted to the sword. The little boy inside him began imagining what it would be like to use it. To carry it around, battle anyone who challenged him, or maybe even topple evil-doers. But then again, there were other responsibilities that needed to be taken care of…_Ignore that, Lyle,_ he thought. _Just keep on dreaming._

Suddenly, there was a knocking on his door. "Come in!" Lyle shouted. The door opened to reveal Luke. "Hey. First of all, dinner's ready. Second of all, the storm's over so I let CC out. It was odd how she took off so fast. It was as if she were looking for something. Honestly, I don't think she's coming back."

"Dinner time already?" Lyle glanced at his clock. It read 5:17. "It's hard to believe I've been spacing out for that long." Lyle stood up. "Alright. What are we having?"

"Pasta with green pesto and feta cheese. Personally, I don't see what's so great about it."

Luke led Lyle to the kitchen. "Maybe that's because you never _tried_ it? I mean, seriously, sometimes you can be too picky for your own good."

"Nothing you say will make me eat it."

"Whatever." Lyle walked in to see Martin watching an episode of M*A*S*H. "Oh, which one is this one?"

"It's the one where Margaret is supposedly kidnapped," Martin replied.

"Ah, that's a good one."

"They're all good ones."

Luke interrupted, "Come on, Lyle. Get your food before it gets cold. Or before I'll have to feed it to you intravenously."

"That's a happy thought," Lyle mumbled sarcastically. "No need to remind me, I'm coming."

The trio grabbed their individual meals and plopped down in front of the couch. As they watched the episode, Lyle had the pasta while Martin ate a bowl of Cheerios and Luke had a peanut butter sandwich. During their meal, the front door suddenly unlocked and opened to admit Jane. "Hey, Mom," was the brothers usual greeting.

"Hello. How are my guys doing?"

"Good," Martin replied for the brothers. "Oh, maybe this is a bad time to mention that we're running low on milk."

"I just came from Jim's Market so you could've called me."

"Um, maybe if you're cell phone was working…"

"Oh, right. I forgot it broke last week."

"And you forgot to buy a new cell, too," Lyle added.

Jane sighed. "Alright, I'm heading back. Do any of you guys want to come?"

Luke stood up. "I'll come."

"What do you want to do, Lyle?" Martin asked.

"I'm going to stay."

"Yeah, I think I'll stay, too."

"Uh-uh," Jane said.

Martin looks up at her. "What do you mean, 'uh-uh'?"

"You need to get out more."

"What? Oh, man. Well, if I'm going, then…" His gaze suddenly falls upon Lyle.

"I'm still going to stay."

"Oh, no you don't."

"Lyle has been out today," Jane interjected.

"School shouldn't count!"

"Don't argue. Now, come on. If we hurry, we can make it home before it gets dark."

"Aw…"

Lyle kept on watching M*A*S*H as everyone else got ready. It was very near the end by the time they were saying good-bye. Lyle flashed an ear-to-ear grin at Martin. "Later!" he said as he closed the door.

He watched what was left of the episode. After that, he was done with M*A*S*H so he flipped through the channels just to discover that there wasn't anything worth watching. He turned it off. With no TV, there was only one other thing to do; call and talk with friends. But he decided against it. They might be having dinner so it would be bad timing. With nothing to do, he decided to take a shower. He went into the bathroom, stripped off his clothes, and hopped in.

Lyle once again got lost in thought and left his subconscious to wash himself. His thoughts drifted from what kind of food they were going to bring home to which movie they were going to buy (if one at all), and finally, putting the finishing touches on his plan with Mia. They'll see one movie, Shrek Forever After. Now all he has to do is pitch the idea to her and see how she feels about it.

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief. He never thought that choosing a movie would take up so much time. Now that that's taken care of, he has nothing to worry about.

It just so happens that right at that moment, a short burst of light suddenly shone right behind him. It happened so suddenly that Lyle's heart tried to jump out of his chest. He paused a moment to collect himself and slowly turned around.

There standing in the shower with him, was a girl a little older than he was with waist-long blonde hair. She was wearing strange clothes that were white trimmed with blue. Lyle's mouth fell open.

For what seemed like an eternity, they just stared at each other, wondering if what they were seeing was real. There was complete and total silence with the exception of the shower which poured over both of them. Finally, Lyle managed to force from his throat, "A-A-Am I…hallucinating?"

She fainted and fell over.

Chapter 2 Coming Soon…


	3. Chapter 2

Orchard of Mines: Assassins

Chapter 2

The girl fell out of the bath and through the curtains. Lyle jumped when he heard a loud bang as she fell. He threw open the curtains to see a part of the sink covered in blood and some more dripping from her head. He very suddenly grew nauseous. She hit her head as she fell.

Lyle calmed his stomach down as he leapt out of the shower and put his hand over her head trying to keep the bleeding under control. "Oh, man, oh, man, oh, man…" he said, looking around for anything to wrap her head in. He saw the toilet paper, but it wasn't very strong. Something better was needed.

Desperately, he threw open the cupboard beneath the sink and, as if presenting itself, was the paper towels. He quickly tore the paper towels into scraps and started wrapping them around her head. Then a noise resounded throughout the bathroom that nearly frightened Lyle. A groan was escaping her mouth. "Ugh…my head," she said.

"Keep your eyes closed," Lyle said. "And hold still; you probably have a concussion."

"What happened?"

"You hit your head on the sink as you fell."

"And, um…why do I need to keep my eyes closed?"

"Because I'm naked."

A slight whimper escaped from her throat and her face turned bright red. "Listen, I'm really, really sorry about this."

"It's fine, don't sweat it. You probably didn't do this on purpose."

She chuckled a bit. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"There's no need to apologize."

"Oh…sorry."

Lyle sighed and decided to let the matter drop. "What's your name?"

"My name is Colette Brunel. I'm also known as the Chosen of Regeneration. Have you heard of me?"

"Uh…no. Should I have?"

"It's fine if you haven't. I'm not really much of a Chosen, anyway."

"What exactly is a Chosen…? Actually, tell me later. I just finished wrapping the bandage. Or...what can be considered a bandage. You mind holding still for a moment? I still need to dry myself off and dress."

"I don't mind waiting. Um…would you mind telling me your name?"

"I'm Lyle Connaway. I don't really have an impressive title like yours so I'll just leave it at that."

"Well, Lyle, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Yeah, likewise."

"Hmm…I wonder what you look like," she thought out loud.

"Well, you can look now. I just finished dressing." Colette's eyes popped open and studied Lyle. Her eyes were a deep blue. It was almost as if he could fall into them.

Colette smiled. Lyle was amazed. He didn't know a smile could be so beautiful, cheerful, and comforting at the same time. "Now we can have a proper greeting."

She tried pushing herself up, but Lyle knelt and held her down. "Hold still! Do I need to remind you that you probably have a concussion? If you want to move, I'll carry you. Understand?"

Colette nodded. "Alright."

"Okay. Do you want to move to a more comfortable place?"

"Um…if it's not too much trouble," she said rather quietly.

"Alright. I'll take you to my bed." Lyle stopped and turned red. _I really need to watch what I say_, he thought.

He flushed even more when she said, "That's fine." He assumed that she just didn't know better (or rather he hoped).

"Uh…you're going to have to help me out here. Can you lift your knees a bit? …Thank you. Now, can you lift your back? …Alright. Here goes." Lyle managed to lift Colette and carry her. It's a good thing she's a pretty small size. That and maybe the Tae-Bo workouts actually work.

"Here you go," Lyle groaned, laying her down on his bed. "Please excuse the mess."

"No, no. It's fine." She grasped his hand in both of hers. "Thank you so much."

Lyle smiled. _Wow, _he thought, _I think I'm beginning to like her. _"It's no problem, really." His smile disappeared. "I want to ask you something. How did you get here? And where did you come from?"

"What do you mean? Are we not in Symphonia?"

Lyle sat down on Luke's bed. "What's Symphonia?"

"Come to think of it, where am I?"

"You're on the outskirts of Midvale, Idaho in the United States of America."

Colette looked down and suddenly appeared in deep thought. "So that was some sort of portal that we trav-?" Colette suddenly started. "Where is everyone?"

"You weren't alone? I'm sorry, but no one else showed up."

"Oh, no…I hope they're alright."

"Yeah. Here's hoping." Lyle laid down on Luke's bed.

"You're a really nice guy, you know that?" Colette spoke up suddenly.

Lyle looked over at her. "What makes you say that?"

"I can tell you're genuinely concerned about me and my friends, even though you haven't met them before."

"Well, I just…" Knocking on the door interrupted him. Lyle got up, walked to the front door, and peeked through the peephole. Yet another girl in strange clothes was there. She wore a white tunic with a black collar with dark blue skin-tight jeans (or something like jeans), red and brown knee-high boots, and white gloves. But the feature that stood out the most was her reddish-blonde hair. It was so long it nearly touched the ground. There were also flowers in her hair (Lyle couldn't tell whether they were real or just accessories). He opened the door a little ways.

"Excuse me. I'm looking for a friend of mine…" she said.

Colette suddenly shouted, "MARTA!" She threw herself onto her feet and ran towards the door.

"Colette!" Marta pushed herself in through the door and hugged Colette in the hallway. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright! When you didn't appear outside, we thought we lost you."

Lyle walked over to them. "Colette, _you have a concussion!_ You need…to…" He suddenly saw something purple and sparkling sticking out of her back. _What is that?_ he thought.

Marta noticed the paper towel bandage on Colette's forehead. "What happened to you?"

"Oh! I appeared in Lyle's shower while he was in it…" Marta's eyebrows rose suddenly.

"Uh…excuse me…" Lyle tried to say. But Colette kept talking as if she didn't hear him,

"…and I fainted, fell, and hit my head on Lyle's sink. When I came to, he was wrapping this bandage around my head."

"Um…Colette," Lyle said firmly. "Would you mind coming over here, please?"

"Oh! Sorry, I'll head back to bed."

"No, no, it's not that. Just come over here."

"Okay!" Colette walked towards him.

Marta looked at Colette's back and suddenly said, "Oh! Colette, your wings!"

"What?" Colette turned around to look at Marta. Lyle now had a full view. They were indeed wings. Near where they connected to her back, they were purple and slowly turned pink toward the tips. They were also semi-transparent and sparkling. Colette looked behind her. "Oh, oops!" Immediately the wings disappeared as if they were never there. She turned back around and walked up to Lyle. She asked, "What is it, Lyle?"

Lyle looked up at Colette. "What are you? Some kind of…angel?"

Her gaze fell to the ground in nervousness. "Oh. You saw that, huh? Um…yeah. Well, no…actually, uh…mmm, sort of."

"You're sort of an angel?"

Marta stepped in. "Look, Lyle, thank you for taking care of Colette. We'll explain everything to you, I promise. But right now, we need to gather everybody else. Is it alright if we meet here?"

"Hold it, hold it! As much as I would like to help, I don't think there's any way you guys can live here."

"Wait, I didn't say that we were going to live here. We just want to discuss what we're going to do next, if that's alright."

Lyle considered for a moment. "Well…alright. But you better make it quick. It usually takes my family a little over forty-five minutes to walk to the store and back so you have about…fifteen minutes."

"Great! Thank you so much." Marta immediately ran outside and called out, "LLOYD! GENIS! I FOUND HER! SHE'S IN HERE!"

Soon after, two more guys came in. One was rather tall with spiky brown hair. He was wearing a red shirt with white decorative buttons and blue overalls. The other was rather short and had silver hair. This one wore a tunic that was black and blue.

The one in red hugged Colette tightly, "I'm so glad you're alright."

The blue one said, "Yeah, me, too." Lyle walked around behind them and closed the front door.

"And anyway, what happened to your head? Did you trip and fall again?"

"Not this time." She once again went on to explain her mini-adventure in Lyle's shower.

Once she was finished, the red turned to Lyle and said, "So your name is Lyle, huh? My name is Lloyd Irving." He indicated the blue one. "This is Genis Sage."

"Hey," he said.

Lyle nodded in greeting and said, "Alright. Now that everybody's here…uh, this is everybody, right? …Okay, time for explanations. Where did you people come from? Colette mentioned someplace called Symphonia before. What is that?"

"Oh, yeah," Lloyd said. "Genis sensed something different about this place right away."

"Yeah," he said. "There was a lack of mana in the air and plus, your house is a completely different style than the ones we're used to seeing. It actually looks pretty intimidating."

_Mana? _Lyle thought. "It's a Victorian style," he said out loud. "The main reason these kinds of houses were build were to show off status. It's bound to look intimidating."

"Ooh, I want to see!" Colette spoke up.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Lyle asked.

"Oh, right… Would you mind taking a look, Marta?"

"Sure." As if reading Lyle's mind, she said, "I'm a healer. Even without mana, I can still use herbs I brought with me to heal her." Marta was about to sit down, but paused to make sure there were no objections from Lyle.

"Go ahead," he said.

Marta settled down as Colette came around and sat down next to her. "Let's take a look," she said and began unwrapping the paper towel bandage around Colette's head.

While this was happening, Genis turned to Lyle, "Hey, do you mind showing me a map or something?"

"Yeah, no problem." Lyle stopped briefly to go over what he would need.

As he searched for the globe and atlas, Colette suddenly said, "Oh! Have you seen Sheena Fujibayashi?"

"Who's that?" Lyle asked.

"She's another friend of ours. She went in about a day before us, so she should be here, right? "

Lyle put the globe and the atlas on the back of the couch, "I'm sorry. But you guys were here first. Either she isn't here or she is and I haven't seen her."

"Have you seen anything out of the ordinary that could lead us to her?" Lloyd asked.

"Well…" Lyle had an idea, but decided against telling them. It was impossible in more ways than one. "…no, nothing so strange as that." Everyone's heads lowered slightly with worry. "I'm sure she's fine," he added, despite the fact that it did nothing to ease the tension.

Lyle pointed out the green and yellow mass the globe. "This country here is where we are right now." Lloyd looked over Genis' shoulder.

"Can I see?" asked Colette.

"Sure." Lyle turned the globe around and pointed out the United States. Marta made quick glances as she observed Colette's injury. Then he put his finger on the state. "This is Idaho." Now he spun it back around to show Genis and Lloyd. "Now hold on a second." Lyle flipped to the back of the atlas, looked up Idaho, and then turned to the right page. "Here's Idaho again and…here's Midvale." Once again, he showed Colette and Marta.

"It sure is awfully small compared to these other places," Lloyd observed. "Uh, Boys, Coeur D'Alean, and Nampa."

Lyle chuckled, "First off, those cities are pronounced Boise, Coeur D'Alene, and…actually, you got Nampa right. Second, this is a pretty small town so there's little point in making it look big on the map."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," Lloyd said.

"Alright!" Marta stood up. "There's still a little blood, but otherwise Lyle did pretty good patching you up."

"Thanks," was all Lyle said. "Uh, did she have a concussion?"

"A minor one. It shouldn't take too long to heal. And as long as Colette doesn't feel light-headed, then it's fine for her to move around. Well, at least, I think it is." Lyle's confidence in her healing abilities dropped slightly.

"Okay…now that that's settled. I have more questions. First of all, what's with the angel wings? Second of all, how did you guys get here?"

"Well, it's a long story…" began Colette. Just then, someone knocked on the door. Lyle spun around, startled. His family was here! A quick glimpse at the clock told him that they were actually _later _than usual.

Lyle had no time to consider the options. He had to react fast.

"Never mind about that! Do you guys have, like, a tent or something?"

"Yeah, but will your parents let us stay?" Genis asked.

"No time to argue. Move!"

The four acquaintances (it's a bit of a stretch to call them friends) filed out the back door hurriedly. They very soon disappeared into the darkness. Right before Lloyd vanished, Lyle saw what appeared to be a gem that was on his hand. _What is that? And how did I miss it to begin with? _ Colette was the last to go. She briefly paused to look back and mouthed, "Wow," before she ran after them.

Once they were out of sight, Lyle went over and opened the front door to admit Martin who was carrying grocery bags. "Welcome back."

"About time!" he said. "What took so long?"

"Sorry. I was in my bedroom with the door closed so I didn't hear you at first." Behind Martin, in came Luke, and then Jane. _I suppose I should feel lucky that Luke and Martin are fast walkers and that Mom has the only house key._

Luke barely said, "Hello," dropped the grocery bags next to the fridge, and collapsed on the couch.

"Tired already?" Martin asked.

"Yeah, what of it?"

Martin shook his head. "You are really out of shape."

"I don't care."

"Maybe you should start going…." Lyle lost track of the conversation from there. He was deep in thought about the group outside. They're from another world? It seemed farfetched even with the strange clothing that they wore. Ah, but then there was that light that shone as Colette appeared. And then there were her wings.

The events that just happened were a little overwhelming. But, he also had a feeling that things were about to get more interesting.

"Lyle, are you alright?" Jane asked. "You're smiling."

Lyle looked up at his mother. "Was I? I didn't realize." It was then that he abruptly noticed that his brothers were gone, presumably to their rooms.

"Oh, by the way…" she said, fumbling through her pockets. "I had it here somewhere." She got up and looked into the closet, searching her coat. "Ah, here it is," she said holding up a small case. "We made a quick stop at the post office and found this: your new class ring."

She handed the ring to Lyle. He opened it and looked at the light blue aqua stone. He then pulled out the ring and inspected the emblems encrypted on it. One side had his first name and below that, the year of his graduation, 2012, within a shield. On the other, it had "Rangers" with a symbol of a cowboy on a horse below it. And finally, on the inside he found his full name, "Lyle Connaway." It was perfect. The last one had the second "r" in Rangers missing. So Lyle returned it and requested a new one. It finally arrived.

"Alright, looks good," Lyle said, happy to finally have his high school ring. Now the final test. He slipped it on the third finger of his right hand easily. And it stayed on. "Excellent!" he said. Then he tried pulling it off. It didn't move an inch. "What the-?" He yanked harder, but it still wouldn't budge. "It's not coming off!"

"Let me see," Jane said, sitting next to him on the couch. She, too, pulled really hard on the ring just to make Lyle's finger pop. "I don't know what's going on. You managed to put it on easily enough, why is it so hard to take it off?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Lyle pulled hard again in vain. It was as if it literally attached itself to him.

Then he had an idea. He walked over to the bathroom, picked up the bar of soap, and started rubbing it against his finger. Then he pulled. Nothing happened.

Lyle groaned in frustration. "Why isn't it coming off?" After attempting a couple more times, Lyle gave up and rinsed off the finger.

"Sorry, Lyle," his mother appeared at the door. "Looks like you're stuck with it for awhile."

"That's just great. What a way to top off a day like this!" Jane didn't know what he was talking about.

Martin suddenly poked his head in the bathroom. "Is there something going on?" he asked.

"I can't take my ring off!"

"It's stuck?"

"Yes!"

"Did you try using soap?"

Lyle threw his arms in the air. "Why do you think I'm in the bathroom?"

"Oh, I have no suggestions, then. Unless…"

Lyle's irritation skyrocketed. "If you suggest what I think you're going to suggest, I swear I'll kill you right now."

"Oh, never mind, then." He disappeared rather quickly. Perhaps Lyle sounded a bit more menacing than he thought he did. He reappeared just as quickly. "By the way, this may be a bad time, but something seems to be glowing in the distance. I can't make anything out, but it looks like a fire."

Lyle's heart nearly stopped. _Oh, no, they didn't._ Both he and his mother rushed to the window in Martin's room and sure enough, there was a fire in the distance. A campfire.

"I'll go take a look," Lyle said, now making his way to the front door.

"I'll go with you," Martin said, walking behind him.

"No!" Lyle almost shouted. He bit his tongue when he realized he said that too fast.

"Why not?"

"I…I just…" Lyle had difficulty coming up with an excuse. Finally, he simply said, "Just trust me on this alright. Let me go alone."

"What are you hiding?" he asked rather suddenly.

"Nothing. I'm not hiding anything."

Martin studied Lyle, trying to figure out this mystery. Finally, he just lowered his head and said, "I'm sorry. I feel like such a jerk right now. Fine, go by yourself. Just be careful, alright?"

Lyle smiled and inwardly sighed with relief. "Thanks, Martin." Lyle was just about to head out when he just remembered something. He opened the closet, took out a white overcoat and tried it on. It was practically summer, but it was at night. That was reason enough to wear it. That and it looked cool on him. And last he grabbed the flashlight off of the shelf near the top of the closet.

Right before Lyle stepped through the front door, he said, "Be right back." And then he paused. "Call me lucky number seven."

"Be careful," Jane, too said.

"One more thing, Lyle," Martin said. Lyle paused with the back door now ajar. "I trust you. Remember that."

Lyle nodded with a half-smile and stepped outside. Jane closed and locked the door behind him. Once he turned around, his smile immediately disappeared. _Great, Martin, now _I _feel like the jerk. _Complete and empty silence pervaded the air about him with the exception of the crickets and the moths buzzing around the outdoor lights. He looked ahead. There was absolutely nothing but darkness in between him and the campfire. He took a deep breath, steeled himself, turned on the flashlight, and began the long trek.

As he was approaching, a dozen or so thoughts shot through his mind. _Why_ _are they setting up a campfire? Surely, they didn't think we wouldn't notice._ Then something else came into mind that made Lyle stop in his tracks. _What if the fire wasn't set up by those people? What if it belonged to someone else? Someone more dangerous._

Lyle shook his head. That wasn't very likely. Barbed wire fence formed the perimeter of the property. Most would be discouraged of trespassing just by that. He kept going.

Lyle approached the camp that was set up and lo and behold! it was them. Colette was laying down, apparently asleep, while Marta ate some bread. Lloyd and Genis were chatting by the fire.

He got closer and closer. All of a sudden, Lloyd jumped up from his spot and drew his twin blades with a loud _shiiiiiiing_. "Who's there?" he demanded. Marta dropped her bread and then put a spinner on her arm. With a flick of her wrist, it extended. Genis hopped onto his feet and drew a…something. Lyle had no idea what it was. It looked more like a toy than a weapon. Colette, now awake, got on her feet groggily and pulled a pair of rings out of nowhere.

"Whoa, whoa, relax! It's only me!" Lyle shouted, raising his arms in surrender.

"Oh, Lyle, what brings you out here?" Lloyd asked as everyone smoothly put their weapons away.

"My family noticed the fire you built," Lyle said as he walked up to the camp.

Genis turned to Lloyd. "You see? I told you building a fire was a bad idea."

"And I told you that Lyle would cover for us. Hey, I'm not a bad judge of character, am I?"

"That's just your ego talking."

Lyle took a step forward. "Guys, first of all, I wanted to apologize for driving you out so quickly. Especially you, Colette. I just wasn't sure how my family would react and I panicked."

"No, really, it's fine," Colette said. "There's no need to apologize."

"Thank you. And second of all, I'm going to need you guys to put out the fire. It's drawing too much attention."

Marta sighed. "Alright, I'll put it out." She reached into a backpack (since when did they have that?) and pulled out a sealed container. Presumably, it contained water.

"Wait! Not yet. I want to take this opportunity to learn some things about you guys. First off, I want to know what the deal is with the angel wings. Do you mind keeping this short? It won't be long until Martin comes out looking for me."

"Alright," Colette responded. "As I told you already, I am the Chosen of Regeneration. When I was first born, I had a Cruxis Crystal in my hand. It was my fate to go on a Journey of World Regeneration to replenish the land with mana. You see, the planet was dying. Then, four years ago, the day came when I accepted my task from an angel, Remiel, who at the time, claimed to be my father. As it turns out, he wasn't, but that's another story.

"That's when the journey began. With the help of Lloyd, Genis, Kratos, Raine, and…Sheena, I managed to release the seals that replenished the mana that was needed for the land to survive.

"But this came at a cost. The night after every release, I grew very sickly. My stomach churned, my vision grew blurry, and I couldn't feel anything below my waist. My skin grew very pale and my lips turned purple. The only thing that kept me strong was the knowledge that what I was doing was saving the world.

"Anyway, the first seal, the Seal of Fire, is when I first got my wings. And not only that, I no longer felt any hunger or thirst. And the few times I ate, the food didn't have any flavor at all. It wasn't because it was flavorless; I just couldn't taste anything anymore. Then the next seal, the Seal of Wind, I couldn't fall asleep. No matter how many times I tried, rest was always out of reach. Then came the Seal of Water, which eliminated anything I could feel. Yeah…I couldn't feel cold, hot, or even pain. Next was the Seal of Light. Once that was released, I couldn't talk anymore. I lost my voice. The final location, the Tower of Salvation, was where I lost my heart and my memory. I was supposed to die there."

As Colette told the story, Lyle grew more and more sucked in. "Wait. Why is it necessary to lose all of that? Almost no one I know would give all of that up."

"In order to transform into an angel, everything that makes you human has to be taken away. It's that simple."

"I see. That makes sense, I guess. Although, it's pretty obvious that you didn't die."

"I almost did. Everyone intervened before the process could be completed. Although, Kratos _did_ betray us at that time… anyway, later, Lloyd made a key crest and placed it over my Cruxis Crystal—oh! I forgot to mention that I brought the Crystal with me. That's what slowly turned me into an angel.

"Nothing happened at first, when Lloyd gave me the crest. But later on, it started working. Not only could I eat, sleep, feel, and talk again, I still had my angelic powers." Colette smiled goofy-like and added, "The end!"

"Alright…yeah…okay."

"I'm sorry, did I not explain it very well?"

"No, it's not that. It's just…that's a pretty incredible story. It's almost something straight out of a book or something—"

"Shh!" Colette shushed. Everyone immediately quieted down.

"What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"I thought I heard footsteps."

"I didn't hear anything," Lyle whispered.

"We'll explain later," Genis said.

"Is that it? Just footsteps?"

"And a voice. It was faint, so I might be wrong, but it sounded like they said, 'They're here.' And not only that, it sounded like Sheena!"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lloyd immediately got on his feet and shouted, "SHEENA, ARE YOU OUT THERE?" No response. He turned back to face the group. "Alright. Everyone, fan out! See if you can find her. And bring some torches with you."

All except Lyle, who still had the flashlight, picked up a stick from the fire and spread out into the night.

"There's nothing over here!" Marta's voice cried out.

"The only thing living here is brush!" Genis said.

"No one over here!" Lyle shouted.

"Not a thing here!" Lloyd shouted.

Lyle was half-expecting Colette to cry out, but she kept silent. _Why is she so quiet?_ Lyle wondered. Everyone came back with heavy hearts. Lyle could almost feel disappointment in the air. He wanted to say something to lighten the mood, but decided that it wasn't the time.

"Colette, did you find anything?" Genis asked.

She simply shook her head. That's it! She's just too disappointed to say anything.

Lloyd spoke up, "Okay, so there isn't a trace of Sheena here with the exception of Colette hearing her voice."

"Maybe…I was wrong after all," she mumbled and lowered her head.

Lloyd immediately said, "I don't think so. My instinct tells me that Sheena is here and alive. We just need to find her. It's too late to search for her, so we'll begin tomorrow."

"Wait, wait, wait," Lyle said. "If Sheena is one of your best friends, wouldn't she just come over to the fire and sit down with you guys? If she saw you, why would she disappear?"

"Hmm…I don't know." Lloyd suddenly scratches his scalp. "Man, why is it that we get these kinds of mysteries all the time? Sometimes, I wish that if I went on an adventure…or quest…or…whatever, it would be straightforward and simple. But it never turns out that way does it?"

"It's really not that surprising that you're just figuring that out now, Lloyd," Genis observed.

"Guys, guys, focus," Lyle interrupted. "One more thing disturbs me. Colette said that she heard, 'They're here.' It sounds almost as if someone was expecting you or something."

"By 'someone,' do you mean Sheena?" Marta asked.

"I can think of two possibilities: if Sheena is one of your closest friends as you say, and if she was out there just now, something must've kept her back; however, if it was someone else, then…'They're here' all of a sudden doesn't sound very friendly." It was only after speaking this that Lyle grew very nervous.

He didn't think he explained it very well, but everyone seemed to understand what he meant, so he said no more on the subject.

He noticed that Colette's head lowered a little more. "It's not that I doubt you, Colette. I'm just trying to consider all of the possibilities."

"But, you're not," Lloyd said. "There are still any number of possibilities, not just an assassin."

"Okay, granted."

"Alright, just to be sure," said Lloyd, "we'll move to a different location. A little more west will probably be a good idea. It's slightly further from your house so it will be less likely that you," he indicated Lyle, "and your family will get hurt. That is, if it comes down to it. If it is Sheena, then her training as a ninja will help if she comes looking for us again. We won't set up a fire this time. Marta, go ahead and put out the fire. Let's go."

"Wait! What about me?"

"Your family's probably worrying about you by now."

"Oh! That's right!" In all that just happened, Lyle forgot that he was short on time. "I better head back. There are still questions I have that are just begging for answers. But, they can wait until tomorrow…well, except one. Colette, how did you hear that voice?"

"That's one of the few good things about being an angel. Well, part-angel, anyway. I can see and hear better than anyone else."

"Oh, you didn't explain that in your story."

She chuckled nervously. "Oops, sorry."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

Lyle sighed lightly. "I'll see you all tomorrow. If I'm as sneaky and cunning as I think I am, then I might be able to smuggle some breakfast to you all."

"Oh, there's no need," Genis said. "We have food here. I should be able to cook something up."

"Well, alright, then. Good night." After hearing a good night from everyone, Lyle switched on the flashlight and made his way back. But despite Lloyd's advice, he kept on thinking about what might happen to his family. Everyone would be in danger, whether it was Sheena or not. His thoughts then went to what he should do. _Is it safer to keep everything a secret? Is there risk in letting them know that there is a group with an angel living on our property?_

Lyle shook his head, trying to repress all of those questions. Lloyd was right. There isn't enough information to take action. Keeping it secret would be the best choice for now. But the possibility of an assassin out there…_. No. Stay positive, Lyle. That was Sheena. Oh, please, let it be Sheena._

Even though he made his decision and would stick with it, the risks, the possible danger…all of it kept nagging at him from the back of his mind.

The house seemed to approach much faster than before. Lyle wondered about this until he figured out that he was almost running. He stepped through the door and locked it shut behind him. Luckily, Martin and Jane were still there. Luke was probably still in his room. It's likely he never noticed that Lyle was gone. "Well?" Martin asked.

"There are some people out there who set up camp. They didn't realize that they had trespassed onto the property. So they agreed to leave as soon as they can."

"If they need a place to sleep, I'd be okay if they stayed the night," Jill said.

Lyle was caught off guard. He wasn't expecting this. Reminding him of the risks involved, his mind quickly scrambled to find a good reason so they didn't come. "Well, if you offer it to them, they would probably refuse."

"There's still no harm in offering it to them."

"Well…not only that…" Lyle spouted the first thing that came to mind. "…they're alcoholics."

"Alcoholics?"

"Yeah. Out of four of them, three were drunk. I talked with the one who was sober."

"Oh…I see. Well, never mind, then." Jane had forbidden any drunks or alcohol from entering the house ever since some random guy knocked on our door and tried to sell us beer.

Lyle sighed with relief inwardly. At least they were safe for now. It was at this point that he realized how exhausted he was. A lot happened today. He walked over to the closet and hung his overcoat.

He then went in his room, kicked Luke out temporarily to change, and went to bed. Sleep overtook him in an instant.

Lyle's eyes opened suddenly. Cold sweat was pouring down his face. He sat up abruptly and breathed heavily. Nervously, he looked around. Total darkness with the exception of the moonlight, was still all around him. The only difference between now and when he first fell asleep was that Luke was in bed. His eyes fell on the clock. 4:38.

Lyle laid back down...into a pool of sweat. No, wait…this wasn't sweat. It was something else. It was thicker and warmer. He felt it on his hand so he put it into the moonlight. His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as sheer horror fell on him.

"It's blood…" Lyle gasped.

"Yes, it is," a voice resounded in the room. "Your own blood."

"What? Who is this? And I'm not hurt. This can't be my blood!"

"Take a look."

Lyle was afraid of listening to him, but he did anyway. He looked at his arms first; nothing. Then he sat up and studied his legs; nothing. He looked down at his torso and saw something gleam in the moonlight. It was a knife made of steel…no, it was a sword. Lyle's mouth fell open again. Terror so overwhelming that it nearly drove him insane enveloped him. The blade went straight into his gut. "W…what's going on? Why am I not dead? Why do I feel no pain? Or am I dead already?"

"No, you're not dead." Something darker than the room formed over Lyle. It was bubbling, crying, and writhing as if it were in pain. He froze in terror. He somehow knew that there was no escaping from this. No matter how far he ran, there was no way he could get away. "But I'll tell you what. I'll fix that for you."

The form suddenly took the shape of a fist and slammed into Lyle, driving the sword further into him, cracking a few ribs. This he felt. Burning, unimaginable pain shot through him as groaning escaped his throat. The fist drove into him again, breaking ribs entirely and cracking even more. This time, he screamed. It continued to pummel him again and again, breaking more ribs. He could feel every organ being crushed, forcing more blood to shoot out of his throat and causing him to froth at the mouth. With every hit, his eyes watered more and more. Towards the end, streams were pouring down his face. The only thing he thought about was, _When will this end? Please let this end. I can't stand this anymore._

A voice suddenly spoke through the darkness. "LYLE!" It was faint, barely audible. Suddenly, a shaft of light shot through the window. The black form screamed and lurched about. It appeared to be dying, but it wasn't. It was just being suppressed. "LYLE!" the voice rang out again. It was coming from out the window.

Suddenly, all of his wounds were all healed. Every rib was in place, every organ intact, and even the sword was gone. A small glint of hope flashed into his body. He immediately opened the window and climbed out.

Lyle tripped and fell as he squeezed through. He looked up; the source of the light was now visible. It looked like a giant ball of fire. Lyle somehow knew that plunging through it would be key to getting out of this nightmare. He got up and started running toward it, but as he got closer it seemed to shrink. It was beginning to collapse. He ran faster and faster. _Please, don't leave! I need you!_

Lyle got closer and closer and then when he was only a couple feet away he dove. Right as he reached it, it disappeared. Once again, he fell into the dirt. He swore and slammed his fist into the ground.

Once he was back on his feet, the house suddenly exploded. There was no great fireball in the sky, simply the pieces of the building just suddenly shot out everywhere. Lyle saw this chilling sight and ran, trying to dodge every bit of debris possible. He was hit once by a 2x4 which left a bruise on his shoulder and then was hit again with a wooden stud which knocked him to the ground. He rolled over ready to dodge more, but there seemed to be no more parts flying in his direction. But something much worse was before him.

The black form was back and not only was it angry, it was massive in size. It must've been about a hundred feet tall! He cried out in terror and ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could.

It lunged forward, eager to kill Lyle. But why? What made him such a threat that it needed to chase him down? What made him so important? So many questions buzzed through his head as he ran from it. "This would be easier on both of us if you would stop running," the voice boomed. Lyle, of course, didn't listen.

He then laid eyes on something that shone in the night. No, it wasn't another ball of light, it reflected the moonlight off of it. It was a sword! He looked around. There wasn't another ball of light in sight; that is if there were others. And if he kept running, fatigue would slow him down. He would be dead long before he came across another one. He looked back at the weapon. _Better than nothing,_ he thought. He ran in the direction of the blade. Picking it up, he realized that it was his own sword. The one that hung on the wall his entire life. And not only that, it was also the blade that protruded from him before. _I was stabbed with my own sword?_

Suddenly, a tentacle-like thing from the beast wrapped around Lyle's left wrist, cutting off his thoughts. One downward swipe was enough to sever it. Another wrapped around his waist. He cut that, too. He jumped backward, trying to get out of range. There was little point in running. It was impossible to get away.

Two more tentacles shot out. Lyle dodged to the right and swung downward cutting both off. Then four more came out consecutively. The first, Lyle sliced from down to up. The next he cut diagonally from upper left to lower right. The third, from right to left and the final, diagonally from lower left to upper right. _Where are all of these moves coming from?_

Suddenly, a tentacle wrapped itself around Lyle's legs and tripped him up. He felt his head smack against the ground, giving him what could possibly be a concussion. He was being dragged toward the creature. He moved to cut it, but then realized that the sword fell out of his hands. He tried pulling it apart with his bare hands. It was in vain. He dug his fingernails into the dirt in an attempt to pull himself away. He succeeded in stopping himself and then slowly, exhaustingly, and almost painfully made his way back to the blade. He succeeded in reaching it, and then cut the tentacle.

Getting back on his feet, Lyle readied himself for another attack. This time, the tentacles, dozens of them, shot out from every direction all aiming for him. He dodged, weaved, and ducked his way around the tentacles, cutting as many as he could. Despite all the severed ones piling around him, he never tripped over them. _Since when did I have these skills?_ he asked himself.

Finally, the last one fell, with nary a scratch on Lyle. He decided that he should take the opportunity and lunged forward, stabbing the black form. It roared in protest against the steel sword invading its body—if it can be called a body. He then twisted the sword so the monster cried out even louder. It understood that Lyle wasn't about to die so easily; which was ironic because he thought the exact opposite only moments before.

Finally, he pulled it out. No blood shot out from it which Lyle was silently thankful for. Now it simply sat there, doing nothing. Lyle stabbed it again. And again. And again. He lost count of how many times the sword pierced its…mass. Finally, it cried out one final time, and then disintegrated. Piece by piece, it disappeared, never to return. Lyle fell backwards and let the blade fall out of his hands. He won. He won! He laughed out loud at the thought. He was going to live!

This thought was short-lived, however, when he saw where the house used to stand. There was absolutely nothing left. He cried out in sheer terror. His brothers…his mother…all dead! And the strange group, where were they while all of this is happening? Are they dead as well? Have they chosen to ignore him and let him fight on his own?

Lyle gave in to despair and wept. The world watched with silence as this one boy cried over his lost family.

As he did so, he noticed something startling. He didn't come out of that battle without a scratch. There was blood all over his body. A tentacle even went straight through his arm…and it was still there. Lyle decided to pull it out. His eyes went wide with surprise when he felt absolutely nothing as it was coming out. There was no pain at all. Finally, it came out, blood erupting from the gaping hole in the forearm. There was still no pain.

He set the tentacle down. The blood frightened Lyle at first, but he pulled himself together and started wrapping it up with a torn-off piece of his shirt. He tightened it as hard as he could. Still no pain.

Now that he was bleeding less than before, he glanced at the severed limb of the monster. He picked it up and studied it a little. It was black like the monster. And for some reason, it seemed formless yet at the same time, solid; just like the monster. What was the most surprising, and quite possibly the most frightening, was the tip. It didn't end at a point like a lot of other tentacles, but it actually had five tiny, stubby little fingers. It was almost as if they belonged to a small child. He cried out in disgust once it started writhing and wriggling in his hand. He threw it to the ground, picked up the sword, and lost count of how many times he stabbed it. All he knew is that at some point, it stopped moving.

Light suddenly shone into his eyes. He had to cover them up. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw a ball of light. The same one from before. Lyle grew very angry. "You! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP THIS? YOU HAD ENOUGH POWER! YOU COULD'VE SAVED ALL OF US! WHY DID YOU LET MY FAMILY DIE AND LEAVE ME TO FIGHT OFF THIS…THIS…THING?" It remained silent. "ANSWER ME!" Lyle shouted as loud as he could.

Finally, it responded. It suddenly turned into the black form. And it was bigger than before.

"What?" he cried out in surprise. _What happened to the light? Was it destroyed? Was the monster posing as it to lower my guard? Was it part of it from the beginning?_

The tentacle-like protrusions shot out of its sides and began forming a wall of sorts, of which were as tall as the monster they came from. They bent around, beginning to surround Lyle.

Still with the blade in hand, Lyle cried out in surprise and immediately ran in the opposite direction; the last place where the protrusions are going to end. But Lyle knew that he wasn't going to make it. The walls moved too quickly. But he kept running anyway. Perhaps his estimations were wrong. Maybe he could make it. But he didn't. The door to freedom closed off. Lyle was now completely surrounded.

The walls now started closing in onto the main part of the beast. Lyle pressed firmly up against the walls of which knocked him forward, causing Lyle to nearly lose his balance. They moved him closer…closer…closer. Finally, he was only a few feet away from the beast, within range of its attacks. But they didn't come. He suddenly remembered that the blade was still in his hand. He once again lunged forward to stab him, but the "tentacles" formed a shield of sorts and blocked his attack completely. _What's happening? I was able to cut them easily before. Why are they so hard all of a sudden?_

Suddenly a "tentacle" shot out from the shield and hit the sword. It broke in half. The tip was sent flying while the hilt remained in his hands. Before it could touch the ground, a limb snatched the now useless piece of steel and threw it away, over the wall. Another grabbed the part of the sword that Lyle had and started trying to rip it from his hands. He refused to let it go. It could still be used even if it was cut in half. A third protrusion came and punched him in the stomach, hard. The blade came loose and Lyle was sent flying to the ground. Now both halves of the weapon were thrown over the wall. Lyle slowly got back on his feet and waited for the final blow. But it didn't come._ What's happening? I'm cornered. I've lost the blade. There's nothing keeping it from killing me. So why is it not? _A nerve-wracking thought occurred to him. _Is it _studying_ me?_

The beast's voice boomed again, "You have the potential."

Lyle responded, "The potential? What do you mean by that?"

It didn't respond. Instead, like before, a "tentacle" wrapped around Lyle's ankle and tripped him up. And like before, it began dragging him towards the form. Lyle was on his back and he couldn't flip over so there was no way he could keep himself away this time. As he came closer, a huge maw, even darker than the monster, opened up, ready to gulp him down.

Lyle panicked. He dug his elbows into the ground and tried kicking away the tentacle. In response, more came out and wrapped around him, locking his arms and legs to his body. He couldn't move. They lifted him off the ground. Lyle screamed in hopes that maybe he could scare away the monster, but it didn't work. He was thrown in, and was now completely surrounded in pitch-black darkness.

Lyle felt nothing at first. It was just emptiness, loneliness. Then a stinging sensation crawled up his leg. "WHAT NOW?" he screamed in fright. It first began with his toes, and then traveled to his ankles, and then the knees. Soon it felt like his foot was on fire. He let out a light moan at the beginning, but then moved to groans, yelling, and finally, to downright screaming.

Suddenly, where once was fire, there was nothing. No pain at all. But this only frightened Lyle more. He realized what was happening to him. He was dissolving, slowly. The only thing that he was grateful for was the fact that he couldn't see it happening. But he certainly felt it.

Soon his legs were gone, and the burning traveled up his torso. _Soon, Lyle,_ he assured himself. _You will no longer feel anything. It will be over soon._ He was wrong. Even after his neck and head remained, he was still aware of what was happening.

Now his face was on fire. That was all that existed in the world to Lyle. Him and the pain.

Even when everything from the eyes down were gone and he lost his ability to scream, there was still nothing but pain. Pain…pain…pain…

Lyle awoke screaming. "LYLE!" That voice! It was the one from the dream! "LYLE!" it screamed again. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking at the surroundings. The first thing that he saw at the foot of his bed was Luke. _So he was the one calling my name._ He looked around. He was back in his bedroom.

"Are you alright?" a voice asked. He looked in the direction of where it came from and laid eyes on the owner.

"Marta? What are you doing here?"

"So you _do _know her," Luke observed.

"Colette heard you screaming," Marta said. "Frankly, we didn't care to keep ourselves hidden. It's a good thing Lloyd has good lock-picking skills."

Lyle groaned in exhaustion and wondered what time it was. Looking behind Marta, he saw his digital clock. It read 4:38. Lyle's brow furled. Coincidence…?

Lyle looked Marta directly in the eyes. "I was screaming? For how long?"

"Two hours."

Lyle lowered his head. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. I'm pretty sure you didn't scream for the fun of it. Come to think of it, why did you scream?"

The nightmare flowed back into him. He remembered the beast, the light, the pain… Lyle hopped onto his feet, threw everyone aside, and made to the toilet just in time to vomit. Everything from the orange chicken to the pasta, ended up in the toilet. As soon as Lyle regained control, he wiped his mouth on some toilet paper and then flushed.

He saw Marta standing at the door. "Was it really that bad?"

"More than you can ever imagine."

Lyle made his way back to his room. Everyone stepped out of the way, making the path to his bed clear. He collapsed on the bed and sighed with relief. Marta followed him. Jane pushed through everyone and said to Marta, "You said you were a doctor, right?"

"Well, no, I'm a little more like a medic, but I can still heal."

"If you do a physical on him, I'll let you and your friends stay here."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to refuse the stay part. I was going to look him over, anyway." The events of last night suddenly flooded Lyle's memory. _That's right. Sheena…_

"Are you sure?"

"Completely."

"Alright, if you insist."

"Okay!" She stood up and turned to everyone. "Listen, I'm going to need some room, here. Would you mind waiting outside?"

Everyone walked outside, quietly. _They all look so gloomy,_ Lyle noted. _But then again, if I heard nothing but screaming for the past couple of hours, I'd be pretty depressed, too._ Once they were alone, she looked down on Lyle. "Would you mind looking to your right, please?"

As Lyle did so, he asked, "Why?"

"I'm going to check your ears."

"For what?"

"Anything out of the ordinary."

"May I ask what could possibly be in my ear that could cause nightmares?"

"Well, the cause—look to the right now—doesn't necessarily have to be in the ear. A part of the problem could be in the ear or the eye…just anywhere."

"Uh-huh…"

"Okay, look straight up. I'll check your eyes, now."

"Hey, listen, how about you tell me about yourself?"

"Um…okay. As you probably saw before, my preferred weapon is a spinner. My daddy, Brute, is in prison right now for war crimes and my boyfriend, Emil Castagnier, is a member of the Royal Security Force of Symphonia's King."

"Your father's in prison?"

"Yeah, he is."

"Why?"

"He created a resistance group that ended up wiping out an entire city and threatening to destroy a couple more."

"He what?"

"Well, it wasn't his fault to begin with. He was driven mad by a power that a normal man can't hold for long."

"Wait. If it's not his fault, then why is he in jail?"

Marta paused for a moment with a face that spoke "shoot, I slipped." "Well…okay, I'll tell you this, but do you promise to keep this secret?"

"Sure. That's not a problem."

"The power that he went mad from was Solum's core, was a Centurion's core. It's the form that a Centurion takes when it's asleep."

"What's a Centurion?"

"They're basically beings that regulate our world's mana. Anyway, even in core form, they are immensely powerful. Anyone would go mad if they keep it close for too long. And if they go mad, who knows what kind of damage they could do? So everyone decided to keep it a secret to prevent tragedies from ever happening again.

"But this meant the imprisonment of Daddy. No one knows that he went mad except a select few. So everyone thought that every decision he made was made while he was sane."

"The Vanguard was the name of his organization?"

"Yes. Anyway, to keep the Centurions secret, he went to jail."

"I see. I'm really sorry to hear that."

"Oh, geez! I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't mean to depress you!"

"No, it's fine. So you have a boyfriend, huh? What's he like?"

Marta's eyes grew distant and a small smile emerged. "Emil is about a nice a person as one can possibly be. He's kind, warm-hearted, warm-handed, and he's a pretty good fighter, too."

"Heh, he kind of reminds me of myself."

"Yeah, I guess. You do share some qualities."

"How long have you been dating?"

"Two years, about. I think he's going to ask me to marry him sometime soon."

"Really? That's wonderful news! Uh, if you don't mind my asking, how is it that you know he's about to propose to you?"

"Hmm, I suppose it just feels like it's time, you know?"

"I _don't _know, actually. Maybe it's just between people who are really in love, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess. The last I saw of him was when we were attending Sheena's acceptance speech of the position of Chief of Mizuho. That was right before we came here."

Marta gestured. Lyle groaned as he sat up. "Are you finished?"

"Not yet. Right now, I need you to take off your shirt."

"What? Take off my shirt? Why?"

"I need to check for any kind of physical injuries."

"You're kidding. I have to take my shirt off?"

"Yes! Take it off!"

"Alright, fine." Lyle did so. "But let me ask you this: what do physical injuries have to do with a dream?"

"Need I remind you that you were screaming for two hours? Whatever's happening isn't normal. We need to consider all possibilities. And plus, I'm a doctor. I know what I'm doing."

"I thought you said you weren't a doctor."

"Lie down. Backside up. _Now._"

Lyle raised his arms in surrender. "Alright, alright. Laying down." Once he was back on his bed, he asked, "Hey, why am I laying down? Can't you just work with me si—?" He felt a hand smack against the back of his head. _Hitting a man that's technically sick?_ "Shutting up, now."

"A wise choice," she grumbled. "Hmm? What's this?"

Lyle cringed as he felt a dull pain on his shoulder. "Gah, what was that?"

"It's just as I thought. You have a pretty bad bruise. Were you in a fight recently?"

"No…" He suddenly remembered in the dream when the 2x4 hit him. "Impossible…" he muttered under his breath.

"What's impossible?" Lyle looked back up at her. Telling her that he got it from a dream? "It's nothing. My friend, Jason, punched me in the shoulder. Just a friendly thing, you know? I guess he hit me harder than I thought."

"He punched you from the back?"

"What?"

"The bruise is on the backside of your shoulder. So he hit you while you were turned around?"

"Y-yeah." Lyle couldn't tell whether she bought it or not, so he quickly moved on. "Hey, how did you guys get here, anyway?"

"Well, here's what happened—at least, from my perspective."

Chapter 4 Coming Soon…


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Mizuho, Sheena's hometown, had just finished its move from southwest of the Gaoracchia Forest to west of Palmacosta in a thick, heavily wooded area. Not too long ago, the village was discovered by the Vanguard and they attempted to wipe it out. Fortunately, they were unsuccessful. So Chief Igaguri decided that they should move to another secret location once the world quieted down. The Chief only trusted Lloyd and his companions to help his people with the move and keep their location secret. Currently, they are in the middle of rebuilding their village.

Emil, Sheena, and Marta are trying to put a sliding door in place for one of the new houses. Emil has short, messy blonde hair and is wearing a plain white shirt, black trousers, and a white trimmed in green sweatshirt. Sheena wore a purple tunic, dark blue skin-tight jeans (or something like that), blue boots, a pink ribbon around her waist, and a knife strapped on her back.

"Push just a little bit harder," Sheena strained to say. The door shuddered and then clicked in place. "There! That should do it!" Sheena said.

Emil leaned against the wall, resting from the ordeal. "Whew, my arms are killing me. Putting that door in place sure takes a lot of muscle."

"Well, it would've taken a lot more if I didn't help," Marta said, smiling through her exhaustion.

"Yeah, thanks." Emil turned to Sheena. "Hey, why is it so hard to put these doors in place, anyway?"

Sheena didn't seem too exhausted, but she was. "I don't know. It could be a result of poor planning of our ancestors since this is how they made our houses centuries ago or perhaps there isn't an easier way. And by the way, the sliding doors are actually called fusuma."

"Have you ever thought about experimenting?" Marta asked.

"No, actually. And there's little point in starting right now since the village is almost completely set up, already."

"Oh, okay. Well, how much of the village is left to set up?"

Sheena leaned up against the wall next to Marta. "I don't know, actually. You'd be better off asking Raine and Genis since they're both directing the operation."

"Wait," Emil said. "Last I checked, Regal was the one in charge."

"He had to go take care of stuff back at the headquarters of the Lezareno Company."

"What kind of stuff?"

"I don't know. Some of the things he does are really complicated. By the time he finishes explaining, I still have no idea what he's talking about and I have a huge headache."

"Well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he left," Marta said. "He is the president and also a duke."

Sheena got back on her feet. "Come on. There's plenty of time to rest later. Let's fine Raine and Genis."

Emil sighed and then caught himself. "Right," he said.

"I'm coming," Marta said.

Behind them, they hear a voice shouting, "LOOK OUT!" All three turned around just in time to see a piece of wood fly right through the door they worked so hard to put in place. It shattered into pieces. Around the corner came a handsome man with long red hair. He was wearing a pink and black vest, white trousers, and yellow and white boots. He paused for a moment to look at the destruction that was just wrought. "Oops," he said. He went inside, recovered the wood, and came back out. He looked in the direction where the wood came from. "Huh? Hey, guys, where'd you go?"

Sheena was shaking, barely able to keep her anger under control. "Idiot Chosen!" she said threateningly.

The man heard her. "Oh, hey, Jubilees, uh—why do you look so mad?"

She started advancing on him.

"Hey, Sheena, calm down." He looked at the wreckage and then back. "Oh, did you set this up? My bad." She showed no sign of slowing down. "Did you hear me? I take full responsibility for what happened here. So, please, stop looking so angry." She didn't listen. "Uh-oh." He took off around the corner, with Sheena now running after him.

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU, ZELOS!" she shouted.

Emil and Marta ran to see what was happening. They went around the same corner to see Zelos struggling to get through a crowd of workers. He was shouting, "Clear the way! Clear the way! The Violent Demonic Banshee is coming after me!" Instead of trying to catch him through the crowd, Sheena climbed onto a roof of one of the houses and started hopping across them. She went so fast that Zelos wasn't even through the crowd when she got around.

Zelos finally came out, backwards. He was looking for the banshee, still walking. Satisfied, he turned around just in time to see Sheena nail him in the nose. He fell down on his side, groaning and clutching his nose. "Ah! My nose! My beautiful nose!"

"That was for breaking the door. And this"-she kicked him in the back—"is for calling me Jubilees. And finally"—she punched him in the throat—"that was for calling me a banshee!" Zelos' hands went from his nose to his throat, now clutching his Adam's apple.

"Ow, ow! Okay, I'm sorry!"

He put his elbows beneath him and started getting up, but Sheena put her foot in the middle of his chest, holding him down. "I'm not done yet. We're in the middle of setting up the village, and yet, you're playing around with…who were you playing with anyway?"

"Just some Mizuho kids. And, actually, we're not in the middle…" A threatening glare silenced him.

"Why aren't you helping Lloyd? You two were supposed to set up Grandpa's home, right?"

"Well, yeah."

"So what are you doing here?"

Zelos decided to tell the truth. Sheena can tell when he's lying. And besides, this would probably the least painful way to get out of this. "I was working on the Chief's house. I was tired and Lloyd noticed. So he suggested that I take a break."

"A break? If you were oh, so exhausted, why are you throwing around wood?"

"Honest, I was resting!"

"Oh, right, of course you were."

"Seriously! While I was resting, some kids came up to me and asked me to play a game with them. It's simple. Someone throws a block in your direction and you have to hit it with a bigger piece of wood. Uh, what did they call that again...?"

Sheena crouched down and looked into his eyes, trying to figure out whether he was telling the truth or not.

Zelos smiled. "If you want to kiss me, you're more than welcome to." Sheena's answer to that was a slap in the face. "Ow! What was that for?"

"For lying. And also, the kissing suggestion."

Zelos who was now rubbing his face, looked up at Sheena. "But I wasn't lying!"

"Yes, you were."

"Well…alright, I saw the kids playing and asked to join them. Is that so bad?"

Sheena studied his eyes for a little while longer. Satisfied, she lifted her leg off of Zelos, allowing him to get back on his feet. "If Lloyd's still working, then there's still more to be done. Get to it!"

"Alright, alright." Zelos walked away slowly. He was obviously trying to put off doing work.

Emil and Marta felt safe to approach Sheena. Once they got close, Emil asked, "Feeling better, Sheena?"

Sheena, who was staring at Zelos' back, turned to face the two. She smiled and stretched a bit. "Oh, yeah. I feel much better, now."

"Um, good to hear." Emil inaudibly muttered, "I guess."

"Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Raine and Genis! Let's go."

As they walked, Emil asked to nobody in particular, "Since when did Zelos start playing with kids?"

Marta answered, "Knowing him, they were probably little girls. Don't forget that if it was up to him, he wouldn't socialize with boys."

"That's true, but he did ask, 'Where did you guys go?' so maybe he was playing with some boys, or maybe a mixed group."

"Well, guys is a pretty generic term, so maybe…hmm, I guess we'll have to ask him sometime."

"Yeah."

Sheena led the way in between workers just finishing up their homes, families now moving their various furniture into their houses, kids running around, and adults sitting outside, enjoying the conversations that they were having. Eventually, the two half-elves came into view. Raine, Genis' older sister, was wearing a white shirt, black and white pants, white shoes, and an orange overcoat trimmed in black.

She saw them approach. "Hello, you two."

Genis, who was reading some information on his notebook, looked up. "Hey, guys!"

"Did you finish your work?"

Sheena answered, "Not exactly," and explained her encounter with Zelos. "I swear, when I become Chief, I'm going to write laws forbidding him from entering the village. He will never lay a hand on a single village girl!"

Genis laughed a bit. "It's typical of Zelos to try and slack off while working. He's a decent fighter, but anything that doesn't involve combat he tried to get out of. But, then again, he's a noble. He doesn't really know how to do these things."

"Lloyd did give him a few pointers," Emil pointed out.

"Well, still, laziness is a part of Zelos that he will probably never give up."

Raine interjected. "Listen, we're running a tight schedule here, so I need all of you to listen up. The only place left that needs building is Chief Igaguri's house. So head on over there and assist Lloyd and Zelos."

"Right," everyone responded.

"It sure is nice of the Chief to have everyone set up their own homes before his own. Especially since he's sick," Emil noted.

Sheena lowered her gaze. "Yeah…"

As they turned to leave, they noticed Presea and Colette each carrying a few logs. They paused briefly and waved at them. They waved back. Marta stopped to see what was going on while everyone else continued on their assignment. Presea called out, "Raine, where do you want these?"

"Drop one off at where these three were working. The door has broken, thanks to Zelos. The rest you can leave at the Chief's home."

"Where were they working?"

"Take the road down there; take a left, then a right, another right, and one more left. You won't be able to miss it."

"Alright. Oh! Do you mind holding on for a second, Colette?"

"No, I don't mind. I could use a break, anyway."

Presea and Colette dropped their load. Then Presea, nearly running, threw her arms around Genis and gave him a very passionate kiss. Genis' face completely flushed as Presea pulled away. "There. Now I think I can make it through the rest of the day. See you later!" She waved goodbye.

Genis waved back eagerly, laughing. After the two picked up their load and disappeared around the corner, he heard Raine chuckling. "What?"

"I'm just remembering back to when you first asked her out. I've never laughed so hard. Presea was pretty red, but you could have easily passed as a tomato."

Genis sighed. "You're still going on about that?"

"It's just that my little brother is growing up. I'm happy, but at the same time, a little sad. I wonder if this is how a mother feels."

"How is it that you're sad?"

"It's difficult to explain. When you become a parent, maybe you'll understand."

Marta nearly squealed in delight. She could not get over just how cute that scene was! She started jumping up and down in excitement. "Um, Marta?" Emil asked.

She turned around. Everyone was waiting for her. "Oh, sorry. Did you guys see that? Oh, I loved that _so _much!" She caught up to the them and they resumed their march.

"They've been doing that for about a year now, Marta."

"And it never gets old!"

A few twists and turns later and they came upon a slightly larger home still in construction.

Lloyd, along with a few people of Mizuho were assisting in the construction. Zelos seemed to be assisting, but he was just moving stuff around to keep himself busy. That and ogle at some of the girls watching nearby. Sheena seemed to notice, but she didn't bother. There were more important issues at hand. She walked up to Lloyd, who was hammering a stud in place. "Hey, Lloyd. How are things going here?"

He turned around. "Hey, Sheena. Things are going fine here. We should have the place completed by tomorrow."

"That's good to hear. How's Grandpa doing?"

"I don't know." He pointed down one of the streets at a tent set up near the construction zone. "He's down there, if you want to ask him."

"Thanks." She trudged off, seeming to lift her legs off the ground with extreme effort. Presea and Colette passed by her with their wood still in hand. Colette stopped to stare at her back for a second. Once Presea noticed, she stopped, too. "Colette, is there something wrong?"

"She seems…almost sad."

"Sad?" She looked at the tent for a moment, then back at Colette. "We can ask her later. Let's deliver the wood for now."

"Alright." The two now resumed their trek to the house.

Emil and Marta got to work, with Presea and Colette joining them once they dropped off their load. The only noises heard at this time were the banging of hammers on nails, the cutting of wood, and the scraping of sandpaper.

Later, Sheena called out to all of the workers. "Hey, listen up, everyone! Let's call it a night. I have an announcement to make."

All of them, especially Zelos, were glad to end a day early, but judging from the look Sheena had on her face, it looked like there wasn't going to be a celebration of any kind. Everyone wondered what was going on.

"Alright, I need everyone to listen to this. I have just spoken with Gran—Chief Igaguri and he has allowed me to reveal to you the details of his sickness."

Emil turned to Marta. "Now that I think about it, there were never really any details about his illness."

Marta asked as kindly as possible, "Emil, do you mind?"

"Uh…sorry."

Sheena, either ignoring them or didn't hear them, continued. "He isn't sick." Confusion rippled through the crowd. One asked, "He isn't sick? What's going on with him, then?" The next two words Sheena sounded as if she forced them out. "He's dying."

The entire crowd sounded as if they took one giant gasp. "Chief Igaguri is dying?" Marta almost shouted. "How long has this been going on?"

Sheena answered, "Ever since right before we started our move."

"Why didn't he tell anyone?" Lloyd asked.

"He only told Orochi and I. No one else. That's because he wanted everyone to focus on the move and not worry about when he was going to die."

"So the house we're building..." Marta answered.

"…is my own house. He has officially declared me as Chief of Mizuho."

A few muttered their congratulations, but the knowledge of Igaguri dying kept a few mouths shut.

"My acceptance speech is tomorrow, early morning. Get some rest, everyone. Good night."

The crowd muttered their good nights and walked away with heavy hearts. The only ones who stayed were Lloyd, Colette, Zelos, Presea, Emil, and Marta.

"I said good night, guys." She turned to leave.

Lloyd took a step forward. "Sheena...I know how close you were to your grandfather. We all do."

She turned back around. "Are you trying to console me?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Well, save it for later. I would much rather let it out when he's…you know."

"Are you sure? You've been hiding it very well, but you must be an emotional wreck right now."

"I said later." She turned back around and began walking towards the former Chief's tent.

Lloyd walked up to her and grabbed her by the shoulder. "Sheena, listen to me—!"

She shrugged off his arm. "WHY ARE YOU BEING SO PERSISTENT? _I SAID LATER!"_ This sudden outcry stunned everyone. All were silent for a moment.

Lloyd frowned. "You _are _an emotional wreck."

Sheena looked down. "I-I'm so sorry."

Lloyd wrapped his arms around her. "Let it out."

Sheena refused to comply for a moment, but eventually gave in. She embraced Lloyd back and cried into his shoulder. The others watched silently for a moment and then walked back to their own camp set up outside of the village.

Marta and Emil were silent as they made their way through the village. Once they made it to their tent, they immediately turned their backs to each other and started changing into their pajamas. Marta spoke up. "Lloyd handled that rather well, didn't he?"

"Yeah. I was actually kind of surprised. He's gotten pretty wise these past couple of years."

"Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call him wise. A little smarter, maybe." Marta and Emil finished changing and began setting up their cot. "Do you think Sheena's going to be alright?"

"She will be. Sheena's gone through tough times before, like when Volt went on the rampage that eliminated a quarter of the Mizuho population. And besides, Lloyd's comforting her."

"Oh, that's right. Sheena has a soft spot for Lloyd. It's ironic, isn't it? Everyone knows she's secretly in love with him except the man she's in love with."

"Yeah. I wonder if she's ever going to act?"

"She will eventually. Never underestimate the power of love!"

"Heh. Right." Once their cot was set up, Emil took some blankets out from some bags that they brought. With Marta already laying down, he covered the cot completely. Once he was in the cot, they laid facing each other. Marta began staring at Emil. Those emerald green eyes, the messy blonde hair, even the one sliver of hair that simply refused to flatten, she loved everything about him. And she said so. "I love you, too, Marta," he replied. Next thing she knew, their lips connected. Marta was hoping oh so badly that this moment would never end. But he eventually pulled away. "We better get some sleep for the speech tomorrow."

"Oh, come on, Emil. A few more minutes?"

"Well…alright, I suppose a few minutes wouldn't hurt." As thank you, Marta kissed Emil as passionately as possible.

The next morning, Marta awoke to the smell of eggs and sausage. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Emil, already awake, watching her. "Good morning," he said.

"Good morning." She sniffed. "Do you smell that?"

"Yup. I'm starving."

"You could've eaten while I was asleep."

"Yeah, well, I want to have breakfast with you. So I decided to wait. I kept myself busy."

"Doing what?"

"Just wondering about…stuff."

"What kind of stuff?"

"It's a secret."

"I thought we promised that there wouldn't be any secrets between us."

"I was hoping that we could make an exception in this case."

"Well, alright. As long as you tell me soon, okay?"

"I promise I will tell you."

Marta figured it out, immediately. _He's going to ask my hand in marriage! Oh, I can't wait!_ "Great!"

"Alright. Let's go get ourselves some eggs!"

"Okay!"

Both of them pushed themselves onto their feet, got dressed, and stepped outside. The mess area, which was near their tent, was packed with construction workers who were working on now Sheena's home. The two got in line, grabbed their chow, and sat down at one of the wooden tables set up for them. "Hey, you two!" a voice came from behind them. Both turned around to see Zelos standing there.

"Hey, Zelos," Emil and Marta said.

Marta took a bite and instant pleasure came over her face. "Mm, you got to try this Zelos. They really know how to cook."

"And I don't?" Emil asked.

She chuckled. "Sorry, Emil."

"Ah, don't worry about it. I was only kidding. This stuff really is great."

"Wow, Emil. Your sense of humor is coming along nicely."

"Thanks, Marta."

"Alright, alright, cut the chatter you two," Zelos said, sitting down. "I have a couple more important things to talk to you about."

"What are they?" Emil asked.

"First off, do you know when Sheena's speech is?" Both shook their heads. "I don't know, either. I've been trying to find her, but she isn't anywhere."

"Where do you think she went?" Marta asked.

"I have no idea. It must be important if she leaves when she's about to accept her position as Chief."

"Well," Emil spoke up, "maybe she just went for a walk or something. She's kept her emotions corked for awhile now. Perhaps she needed some time alone."

"That makes sense," Marta observed.

"Great!" Zelos clapped his hands and started rubbing them together. "Now that that's taken care of, it's time for the other very important thing. How was it?"

Emil and Marta exchanged looks. "How was what?" Marta asked.

Zelos raised his eyebrows. "You're kidding me. A tent all to yourselves, sharing the same cot, under the same blanket, and nothing?"

"What are you talking about, Zelos?" Emil asked.

"Shut up, Zelos," Marta spoke sternly, with a slight coloration in her cheeks. "You know we agreed to not have sex until we were married."

Emil turned red as well and looked at Zelos. "Oh, _that's_ what you were talking about? Yeah, what she said."

"Thank you, love."

"You're welcome."

Zelos shrugged and stood up. "Well, it's understandable that you would want to keep it a secret. Don't worry; it's safe with me."

"There's no secret to keep!" Emil shouted almost too loudly.

"Hey! Calm down, I was only kidding! Sheesh, you should lighten up, Emil. That goes for you, too, Marta."

"Hey!" Genis' voice resounded throughout the mess area. He was running towards them, with a look of urgency spelled out on his face.

"Genis? What's going on?" Emil asked.

He stopped once near them, panting. "Have…you guys…seen…Sheena?"

"You're looking for her, too?" Zelos asked.

"Yeah. Her speech was supposed to have started one-and-a-half hours ago!"

Everyone exchanged glances. Marta stood up. "Alright, _now_ I'm worried."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Marta took charge of the situation. "Let's look for Lloyd. He was the one who saw her last."

"I already talked to him," Genis said. "He walked her to her tent. The last he saw of her is when she went inside."

"So that's no good…let's split up and search for her. If you come across Colette, Presea, Raine, or Lloyd, tell them to meet us in one hour, we meet by the north entrance of Mizuho." All nodded in agreement. "Let's go!"

All went their separate ways. Marta went northeast, Emil went west, Zelos went east, and Genis went northwest. Marta asked everyone she came across. They all said the same thing: no one saw her since last night. Growing worried, the people decided to join in the search.

One hour later, she found the original three searchers along with Presea, Colette, Lloyd, and Raine where they decided to meet and asked, "Did you guys find her?"

"No one I came across knows where she is," Emil said.

"No luck for me, either," Genis said.

"Jubilees is nowhere to be found," Zelos said.

"What about you?" Genis asked Marta. "Any luck?"

Marta shook her head. "I struck out, too."

"This is awfully strange," Lloyd remarked. "She wouldn't just run off when she has responsibilities to take care of. And she wouldn't leave unannounced, would she?"

"Only if the reason is good enough," Genis said.

"What good enough reason is there to leave?" Presea asked.

"Let's find and ask her, then," Zelos said. "Colette, fly up and see if you can find any clues. In the meantime, who has the wing packs for the Rheairds?"

"We do," Marta said.

"So do we," Genis said.

Zelos scratched his scalp. "Sheena had one, I remember that much." A click almost loud enough to be heard came from his mind. "Oh! You think maybe she took it?"

"Maybe," Lloyd said, gears turning. "Go check out her tent. See if you can find it. The rest of you, go get your Rheairds. Professor and I'll wait here for Colette."

"Wait a minute. Why do _you_ guys get to wait for Colette?"

"Well, I think it's fair. You've been slacking off the past couple of days while I've been working."

"Yeah, but what would Colette have to look forward to other than being in my warm and loving arms?"

Lloyd flashed a look of annoyance at him. Raine, however, pulled a staff out (where does she keep it?), dusted it off, and then took aim in between Zelos' eyes.

"Whoa, whoa! Point that thing somewhere else. You could hurt someone!"

A large, devious smile spread across her face. "You're right. I could."

Zelos got her message. "Ah. Well, it's not as if it's going to be that hard, anyway."

"A wise choice," Presea observed, to which Zelos said nothing. Everyone split. Emil and Marta grabbed their pack and came back. Presea and Genis were already there, waiting for them, along with Lloyd, Raine, and Colette.

As they came up, Emil asked, "Did you find anything, Colette?"

"Nothing. No footprints, no snapped twigs, nothing."

Emil sighed. "Perhaps Zelos will have more luck."

"I do have more luck," Zelos said, just coming up to the gang. "Sheena has brushes, paper, ink, and a whole lot of books, but there is no wing pack in there. She probably took it."

"If that's the case," Genis said, "we'll do this." He outstretched his arm with the pack in his hand and the Rheaird instantly popped out and grew in size so it could accommodate two people.

"What do you plan on doing?" Lloyd asked.

"Do you remember the communication device that Kratos and Yuin used during our assault on the Iselia Ranch?"

"Yeah."

"I designed a communicator similar to that and attached it to all of the Rheairds. We just need to turn it on and hopefully, we can talk to Sheena."

"Whoa, that's so cool, Genis!"

"What? The communicator? That's always been there."

"Wait, what?"

"Well, not always, but for a long time."

"Why didn't anyone tell me about this? This is awesome!"

"Maybe because you'll get bored of it in a couple days?"

Lloyd was about to rebuttal, but let the matter drop. Instead he asked, "Does Sheena know about the commu—thingy?"

"Yeah. I showed it to her while she was helping me design weapons for the Rheairds."

Lloyd's jaw dropped. "What? _Weapons?_ What kind?"

"They're like smaller versions of the Mana Cannon. Similar to the one Sheena used four years ago while we were assaulting Mithos' base."

"What else have you kept from me, Genis?"

"Other than improvement in the shape of the wing or a new engine with better fuel efficiency? Yuan was most kind in letting me have the blueprints and even assisting me in some points."

Lloyd was in absolute shock. "Who knew that you were giving the Rheairds a major overhaul?"

"If it makes you feel any better, Lloyd," Emil said. "Marta and I didn't know about this either."

"Yeah," she agreed. "It's really cool, Genis!"

"Why, thank you, Marta," Genis said. "Alright, let's give this a spin." He climbed on board the Rheaird and flipped a switch on the right handlebar. "Sheena! Are you there?" They waited for a moment. There was nothing but static. He tried again. "Sheena, come in!"

There was no response for a moment until a voice came in, "Hey, guys, sorry it took awhile to respond." Everyone sighed with relief.

"Sheena!" Lloyd shouted. "You had us worried for awhile. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. Sorry I left in the middle of the night without telling you guys. I figured you guys needed to sleep."

"I don't mind being woken up in the middle of the night! You ought to know that by now!"

"Hey, I said sorry! Calm down, Lloyd!"

"I was just worried about you is all. What if you were hurt? I don't know how I'd be able to live with myself if you got yourself killed."

There was a pause for a moment. "That's…really sweet of you, Lloyd."

"It's the truth," he said plainly.

"What happened?" Zelos asked. "What was so important that you had to leave in the middle of the night and not show up at your own speech?"

"Oh…you're here too."

"I was worried about you, too, you know."

"Thanks…Zelos."

"Whoa! Sheena thanked me! Better put this down on the calendar, guys. This is a one-in-a-lifetime moment. We should have anniversary parties!"

"Idiot Chosen."

"Would you mind telling us what happened?" Emil asked.

"Oh, right." She cleared her throat. "Last night, I was woken up by Orochi. The reason why he isn't anywhere to be found while the village is moving is because he's investigating activity at the Otherworldly Gate. At first, it was just a ball of light. Sort of like a miniature sun. Orochi's researchers were studying this phenomenon, but he decided to report to me when something unexpected happened. It suddenly transformed and then took the shape of a giant, massive gate."

"A gate?" Lloyd asked. "What does it look like?"

"I don't know yet. I'm on final approach."

"Why are you out there?" asked Genis. "Don't you have responsibilities here?"

"Well, technically, I'm not Chief yet. And even if I was, I decide whether or not to handle a matter personally. That's what I'm doing. And plus, you guys can handle finishing off my house."

"That's true, I guess. But you also want to put off the speech. Am I right?"

"Y—yeah. I've always hated speeches."

"Well," Marta chipped in, "regardless of the reasons, I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks, Marta. Hey, is there anyone else, there?"

"Let's see," Lloyd said. "Um…everyone's here. Me, Colette, Genis, Marta, Presea, Emil, and Professor Sage. Why?"

"That's everyone, alright. Thanks."

"For what?"

"For being concerned about me."

"Now, you're being ridiculous, Sheena. Of course we're concerned about you. You're our friend."

"Well, still. Thank you. Alright, I've arrived…whoa."

"What is it?" Raine asked. "Is it the gate?"

"Yeah. He wasn't kidding when he said it was huge. It appears to be made of wood, but I don't know for sure. It has carved into the center of it one giant eye with grooves coming out at all directions. Almost as if it were shining."

"That sounds pretty disturbing," Emil observed.

"Yeah, it's kind of creepy. But the most disturbing part is what's around it. They have statues of humans all around the two pillars—one on each side—and around the frame of the doors themselves. And even creepier are the ones on top. Some are on their hands and knees while others have their hands reaching towards the heavens. As if they were offering a sacrifice."

The entire party exchanged looks. There was nothing like this in Symphonia. Not even when it was split between Sylvarant and Thethe'alla. "I've never heard of such a thing," said Raine. "And it came from a ball of fire, you say?"

"Well, that's how Orochi here, described it."

"Orochi is with you?" Presea asked.

The gravelly, somewhat deep voice replied, "Yes, I am."

"Whoa," Lloyd said. "I had no idea you were there. Awesome stealth ability!"

"Thank you, but you're talking about something far more important, so I'll keep quiet from here on."

"Oh…okay." He turned around and whispered to Colette. "He doesn't really know how to small talk, does he?"

"Well, maybe," she replied.

Sheena's voice crackled on the communicator. "You know he heard that, right?"

"Wow. Nice ears, too," Lloyd added.

"He's now refusing to talk."

"Okay, fine. He has a right to remain silent so I'm not going to bother." Lloyd noticed Raine's expression. "Is there something wrong, Professor?"

"It's definitely something not of this world."

"Oh, you're talking about the gate."

"Yeah," Sheena's voice resounded from the speakers, "forget what I said before. This is _beyond_ creepy. And what's even stranger is that it doesn't lead anywhere. I just circled around and there's nothing beyond it. I'm going to land, now." The group visibly tensed up when they heard the Rheaird's engine shut off. Sheena's voice came again, this time a little quieter. She left the communicator on. "Report."

Another voice came in. Probably one of Orochi's researchers. "Nothing to report. It hasn't shown activity of any kind. We have tried everything from explosives to prying the doors open with crowbars. Nothing can open it."

"Let me take a shot." She cleared her throat. "Ancient ruler of the elements. I summon thee; come, Maxwell!"

There was a quiet _ping_ and then an old, weary voice spoke. "What is it, young summoner?"

"Young? That makes me sound like a child. Can you speak of me as if I were a little older? Especially since I _am_ older?"

"Would old summoner be fine with you?"

"N..no! Just summoner is fine."

"Very well. Why have you called me here?"

"Can you tell me what that thing is?"

It was quiet for a moment. "My, my. It has been a long time since I've seen that."

"What is it?"

"This…is something that no one should ever know about. It would be best if you left as quickly as possible."

"Why?"

"It is very, very dangerous to be around this gate. It is the very reason why this world still exists."

"Still exists? What do you mean by that?"

"I will say no more. The less you know about this thing, the better."

"That's all you can tell me?"

"No, but I am choosing not to."

"Grr, fine. But can you open it?"

"No. Only one being controls this thing. I could throw my most powerful spells against it, but it won't even put a dent in it. Or even a smudge. Even if I _could_ open it, I wouldn't."

"Is this being more powerful than you?"

"Much, much more."

"Okay. Thanks, Maxwell. You can go."

"It is my pleasure to help in any way I can, young summoner." Sheena sighed as there was yet another quiet _ping_.

Orochi finally asked, "Are we to evacuate the area, Chief?"

"Not yet. My curiosity is getting the better of me. I want to try opening this myself. Get me something to pry it open and have everyone stand back."

"Yes, ma'am. Everyone, back off! We don't know what could happen."

There was quiet both at the Otherworldy Gate and among the Symphonians just outside of Mizuho. The tension was almost unbearable. Finally, a series of gasps resounded from the communicator. "Hey, what's going on?" Lloyd asked.

"The gate is opening!" Sheena shouted. She was so in awe that she forgot the fact that she left the line open on the Rheaird. "It definitely leads somewhere. It looks like some sort of—ugh! What is this?" A cascade of screams from the communicator caused Zelos to cringe and everyone else to cover their ears.

"What's happening?" Lloyd shouted after checking to make sure no blood was pouring out of his ear.

"Hold on!" Orochi shouted. Sheena was now grunting in frustration and in effort. "Nothing's cutting it! WHAAAA! AAAARGH!"

"OROCHI!" Sheena shouted. "There's more of them! Everyone get away! NOW!" Her grunts turned into screams. It was loud enough to make ears bleed. And then, suddenly, it was gone. Absolute silence now overtook the speakers. It ended so abruptly that everyone didn't know whether they went deaf or not.

"Sheena, come in!" Lloyd shouted. "Orochi, are you there?"

All that was heard were panicking scientists and an unfamiliar voice barking orders. "Get a medic over here! And stay away from the gate!"

Lloyd leaned closer and shouted, "Hey! What's going on?"

"And turn that thing off! It's annoying."

The entire group heard footsteps approaching. "What? NO! TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!" The last thing they heard was the clicking sound of the communicator on the other end shutting off. "Are you there?" Lloyd asked, his voice low and full of anger. No one answered. He swore and punched the mockingly silent piece of machinery; as if it did any good. He was about it to hit it again, but right as he raised his fist, someone grabbed it from behind. He looked to see that it was Raine. Her face told him that what he was doing wasn't going to help.

Lloyd knew then what he had to do and didn't hesitate. He climbed on board the Rheaird behind Genis. He then turned to the rest of the group. "Come on, guys. We're heading over there."

"Right," Emil said. He mimicked Genis and the Rheaird popped out in an instant. "Okay, who's going?"

"I will," Marta said and hopped on. "Orochi is hurt so he's going to need medical aid."

"I could provide that as well," Raine said.

"You stay here, Raine. Your leadership skills will be put to the most use putting on the finishing touches of Mizuho."

"Well, Genis can do that as well."

"I'm already on the Rheaird," Genis said plainly.

"Now who's being lazy?" asked Zelos. He ignored him.

"I'll go, as well," Colette said.

Presea opened her mouth, about to object, but instead said, "Alright. Take care of Genis while you're gone and make sure Sheena's alright. That goes for all of you." She kissed Genis one last time for she stood back.

Emil did the same with Marta. "Good luck and take care of yourself," he said.

"You, too."

Zelos turned to Colette. "Hey, you and I are missing out. How about it?"

She turned a little red. "Um…thanks. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to refuse."

"Aw, why not?"

"No time. We need to leave right away."

"Oh…" Then he turned to Presea.

"Don't you even think about it!" Genis shouted.

Zelos sighed. "I wasn't going to ask her to kiss me. Do you hear him, Presea? He's a little overprotective for your taste, isn't he?"

"He suits me just fine, thank you very much."

"Sheesh, tough crowd."

As the flying machines lifted off the ground, Raine shouted, "Don't do anything stupid, Genis!"

"Right! And keep Zelos away from Presea!"

"Of course!"

The three grew smaller and smaller, until they completely and utterly disappeared. Then the village of Mizuho disappeared over the horizon. Everyone kept silent, as they flew. They knew that it would take about 12 hours to get to the Otherworldly Gate. If Sheena's dying…. They did their best to suppress their "ifs" on the way there.

Finally, they arrived in the middle of the afternoon. A tiny little island just barely big enough for two, maybe three houses sat right in between two continents. There was a semicircle of rocks, each about twenty feet tall, surrounding the gate mentioned before. All around them were the Mizuhoan scientists and a couple of medics who were stationed for situations like the one they were in now. Both were currently tending to one man who wore the usual dark blue clothing of a ninja, complete with a mask covering all but his eyes. It was Orochi and he wasn't moving.

The group landed as far away from the gate as they could and then ran over to Orochi. Marta asked one of the medics, "How is he?"

"His backbone is almost completely broken in half. If he manages to survive, there is a major possibility that he will be paralyzed from the waist down. Possibly from the neck down."

Marta sighed. "What happened?"

"The gate opened. This black thing—I don't know what it was—wrapped itself around Sheena's waist and tried to pull her in. Orochi rushed forward and tried to cut it, but it was much harder than it appeared to be. Then another one came and wrapped itself around Orochi as well. It picked him up and threw him into the stone rock over there. More came out and wrapped themselves around Sheena's arms, legs, wherever it could. She resisted until she completely lifted off the ground and was pulled in. It closed, preventing anyone to pursue her. Although, the scientists were too afraid to try and the medics focused on Orochi."

"I see," Lloyd said. "Who was the one who ordered the radio to turn off?"

The medic pointed at one of the scientists. He was dressed in the usual white lab coat with black boots, shirt, and pants. "It was that man over there, um, I don't know his name. He's the one who took charge."

"Thank you." Lloyd walked over to the man, his teeth clenched and his fists balled.

The scientist saw him approach. "Ah, you're Lloyd Irving. I've heard of you."

"That's pretty obvious. There isn't a person alive who hasn't heard my name."

"Ha. True. I actually learned of your existence through an old friend of yours."

Lloyd stopped when he was within punching distance. "That would be Sheena?"

"Possibly."

"Possibly?" Lloyd shook his head and said, "Let me ask you something. Why did you turn off the radio?"

"It's simple. It annoyed me. I can't concentrate and give orders with that guy screaming in that whatchamacallit. Oh, wait a minute, come to think of it, that was you, wasn't it?"

Lloyd's knuckles were now completely white. "No, it's not that simple."

The scientist furrowed his brow. "Come again?"

"Anyone who has had leadership training has to be able to give orders with even the loudest noise in the background. So either you are a poor leader, or there is yet another reason why you ordered it to be turned off. Perhaps more than one."

The man shrugged. "I'm a scientist, nothing more. I've never had such training. Look, the situation called for a leader and since I'm the senior member of this team, I stepped up to the plate. That's all."

After a moment, Lloyd relaxed his fists and calmed a bit. It was hard to argue with that kind of logic. "Fine. Just don't let it happen again, alright?"

"Of course." The scientist, who was studying the gate from a distance, resumed doing so. Genis, Colette, and Marta watched and listened to the conversation that just happened.

Lloyd went to one of the other scientists and asked him, "Who is that guy?"

She replied, "I don't know his name."

"What? How come nobody knows his name?"

"Well, he was recently appointed to the team. He's a pretty quiet guy when he isn't out in the field. No one knows exactly what kind of man he is."

"How strange," he thought out loud to himself. "Thank you."

She nodded slightly and then resumed work which apparently was study the gate from a distance. Just like the lead scientist. He walked over to Genis, Colette, and Marta who were watching and listening to everything that happened.

"What are we going to do now, Lloyd?" Colette asked.

"_We _aren't going to do anything. I'm going to go after Sheena."

"Just you?" Genis asked.

"The gate obviously leads somewhere and I doubt it leads to another part of Symphonia. There is a possibility that we won't be able to return. I can't ask any of you to come."

"If it means getting Sheena back," Colette said without hesitation, "I'll come."

"Are you sure about this?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm positive."

Genis spoke up. "Yeah, I'll come too."

Lloyd turned to him. "Are you sure? You have more here than any of us."

"Yeah. Sheena's my friend, as well. I'll do everything in my power to help."

Marta sighed and then chuckled a bit. "I can't let Genis beat me at something like this. I'll come, too." _I'm sorry, Emil. It looks like I'll be gone for a little while._

"Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?" Lloyd persisted. All nodded. "Alright. Let's get to work. No matter what it takes, we'll open this sucker up!"

"Lloyd," Colette said.

"What is it?"

"Didn't the scientists already try everything in their power to open it?"

Lloyd rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That's true." He lifted his head as if awoken from a deep sleep. "I've got an idea." He walked over to the female scientist he talked to before and asked her, "Hey, let me ask you something. How did Sheena open the gate before?"

"She just walked up to it. It opened as she approached."

"Just like that? I remember that you guys tried to open it before. How come it didn't open then?"

"I don't know."

Lloyd thought about this for a moment and then said, "Alright, we'll try that, then."

She furrowed her brow. "You're going to try going through it?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"You can't! It's too dangerous!"

Lloyd stared at her with a confused look on his face. "How do you know it's that dangerous?"

She simply said, "Sheena summoned Maxwell before. He said that the gate should be left alone! And didn't you hear about Sheena and Orochi? In fact, once he has been stabilized, we'll be leaving!"

"We don't care how dangerous it is. If Sheena's on the other side, then we're going to go through it."

She opened her mouth as if to talk back, but she closed her mouth and remained silent. Lloyd walked back to the group. "Did you guys hear that? We're just supposed to approach it."

"That's all?" Marta asked.

"Yeah. It worked with Sheena."

"That doesn't mean it will work with us," Genis said.

"Do you have a better plan?"

"Well…okay, you got me. Let's give it a try."

"Okay." Lloyd, Colette, Genis, and Marta walked shoulder-to-shoulder toward the massive gate. All four grew more and more nervous as they approached. The scientists stared wondering if it was going to open for them. The medics temporarily drew their attention away from Orochi and watched the brave souls march to the gloomy entry. It was completely silent as if Mother Nature deemed this moment to be the most important in the history of the world and watched in quiet earnest.

Finally, they were right next to it. It gave no indication that it was going to open for them. Right as they were about to give up and turn around, a small hint of darkness came out through a crack right in the middle of the gate. In this very tense moment, Colette whispered, "Remember, don't resist." All nodded in confirmation.

All four jumped with Marta yelping when suddenly the doors slammed open with a very loud _boom._ At first it was completely black, but then a single, giant, vertical eye opened in the entryway. Some of the scientists screamed just like before, though not as loud. Marta had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming herself.

Suddenly, dozens of these tentacle-like protrusions came out and wrapped themselves all over them. "Are you sure this was a good idea, Lloyd?" Genis asked.

"Not anymore!" he yelled. "But it's too late! Just hang on to…whatever you can hang on to!"

They were lifted off of the ground. The last thing they heard was one more final scream. Whether it was a man or a woman, no one could tell. Then they plunged in.

There was darkness for a split second, and then they found themselves traveling across some sort of tunnel of light. Despite the situation, the group stared in awe at such wonder. All were thinking, _how could something that looks so ugly on the outside be so beautiful on the inside?_

Right when they thought it couldn't get any more wondrous, streams of light shot past them. Though upon closer inspection, they were pictures. Images that represented…something. But what? Memories? Information? Knowledge? Nobody knew what these were.

It ended as abruptly as it began. Lloyd popped out first. The protrusions released him and, losing his balance, he fell on his hands and knees. Looking around, he saw that he was in the middle of a field, with a very creepy looking house at one end. Suddenly, he realized that there was no one else around him. A barrage of questions plagued his mind. _Where are they? Were they dropped near here? Far away from here? Were they dropped in another world entirely?_ He began looking around desperately, when a burst of light emanated from behind him. He whipped around to find Marta, who also ended up on her hands and knees. Running in her direction, he asked, "Marta, are you alright?"

Groaning, she got on her feet. "Yeah, I'm fine. What was that back there?"

"I don't know; a portal or something?"

"Maybe." She looked around. "Do you have any idea where we are?"

"Not a clue."

"Where're Genis and Colette?"

"I was here for a couple of minutes before you showed up. Maybe if we wait a little bit, they'll appear."

"Really? As far as I could tell, we were right alongside each other."

"I know. It's strange, but then again, everything about this is strange."

"Yeah."

Right at that moment, Genis came out, a little ways away. He was able to maintain his balance once he was plopped onto his feet, though he did stagger a bit. "Whoa, what a rush," he said.

"Hey, Genis!" Lloyd called out as he ran toward him, followed by Marta. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just…" He stopped in his tracks. His brow suddenly furrowed and his jaw dropped.

"What is it?" Marta asked.

"We are definitely not in Symphonia anymore."

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked.

"There isn't a single trace of mana in this air. I could always feel it, but…" He sighed. "The air feels so empty."

"Okay, so this is a completely different world, right?"

"It's a possibility."

"Huh? What other possibility is there?"

"We could have traveled forward through time."

Lloyd started laughing. But when he saw the look on Genis' face he said, "You are totally serious. How'd you come to that conclusion?"

"Do you remember two years ago when we said good-bye to the Summon Spirit, Ratatosk?"

"Yeah. How could I forget that moment?"

"He said that he would rewrite the natural laws of the world so that it would no longer be dependent on mana to survive. The process would take thousands of years. If I could get a look at a map, then I might be able to determine if this is our world thousands of years in the future. If not, then it might give us an idea of what the future may hold."

"Wow. Sounds exciting!" Then he caught himself. "No, we shouldn't go exploring yet. Our first priority is finding Sheena. We'll get started as soon as Colette appears. Come to think of it, she should be here by now."

"How do you know that?"

"A couple of minutes passed in between my appearance, Marta's, and yours. It's been longer than that."

"Well, let's find Colette, then."

"You don't need to convince me. Genis, you and I will search this field. Marta, go check the house and see if she appeared in there."

All nodded and then split. Marta felt a little nervous as she walked up to the house. It looked almost uninviting. Also, what kind of people live here? Or are they people at all? After asking herself these questions, she worked up the nerve and knocked on the door.

A few seconds later, a boy just about her age opened the door. He had short red hair and was wearing strange clothes. She didn't show it, but she was surprised to see that he looked a lot like Emil. She said, "Excuse me. I'm looking for a friend of mine…"

Chapter 6 Coming Soon…


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Marta was nearing the end of her medical examination on Lyle Connaway. "Let me get this straight," he said, "you guys came here through a gate-like portal?" Marta nodded. "Genis has a sister, Raine, and a girlfriend, um…"

"Presea."

"Presea, right. And also those black protrusion things, could they be described as tentacles?"

"Yes, I suppose."

"There was something like that in my dream."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to tell me about it or what?"

"Not yet. What I went through was very…jarring. I would like to let it sit for awhile."

"Of course. I completely understand." Marta lifted her hands off of Lyle's back.

"Are you done?"

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"I've been putting this part off."

Lyle grew worried and a little nervous. "What part?"

"You know how I said that a part of the problem that caused your screaming for two hours could be anywhere? And that we have to consider all possibilities?"

Lyle's nervousness spiked suddenly. "Yeah…"

"Well, I checked your legs, arms, back, shoulders, stomach, every part of you. Except one."

Lyle's face reddened when he realized what she was talking about. His mind was suddenly in conflict with itself. _Should I let her go through with it?_

_No, you shouldn't. She's a girl. It wouldn't be appropriate._

_Yes, but she's also a doctor. Uh, medic…or something. She must have experience with this kind of thing._

_That's dirty._

_Shut up, you!_

"Are you alright?" Marta asked.

Lyle snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"You just whispered, 'Shut up, you.'"

"I did? Sorry, sometimes when I am lost in thought, I say stuff out loud."

"Oh. What were you thinking about?"

"Um…nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Uh, okay, fine. There's an argument going on inside my head."

"About me, uh…you know?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if you're at war about it, I'll put you at ease. I won't check it out."

"Okay. I am totally fine with that."

"Okay. That means I'm done. Would you rather have everyone come in here or would you rather have everyone meet in your living room?"

"I'm fine. I'll head out there." Lyle sat up on his bed when suddenly the early morning sun shone right in his eyes. He groaned and covered them up. "Ugh, what time is it?"

"8:45," Marta answered.

"That means it took—what? Four hours for you to tell your story?"

"Apparently."

"And four hours to go through a medical examination?"

"Well, I did pause on the examination while telling the story," she admitted.

"Ah, okay. That's fine as long as you got it done."

Marta smiled and nodded. "I'm happy to be of service."

Lyle smiled back. _Funny,_ he thought, _after going through that nightmare, I didn't think I would ever smile again._ Lyle suddenly realized that he was still in pajamas. "Um, let me get some clothes on. You go ahead and head out. Tell them what your findings were…hey, wait a minute. You haven't told me what you found out. Is there anything to be concerned about?"

Marta's smile widened. "I'm happy to say that physically you're very healthy. Nothing is wrong at all."

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief. "I see. That's great to hear!"

"See you when you come out, Lyle!"

"Right." She went outside and closed the door behind her. He heard a commotion and a few voices. He recognized his brother's and his mother's voices, but he couldn't make them out. He then focused on getting his clothes on.

Once properly dressed, he made his way to the family room where everyone was waiting. Lloyd, Martin, and Colette were sitting down on the couch while everyone else was standing. Martin asked, "Hey, Lyle. How are you feeling?"

"Better," he replied simply. "What have I missed while Marta was doing her medical examination?"

Genis answered, "Well, we explained how we arrived here. You see, it began with the construction of Mizuho…"

"Thanks, Genis, but Marta already told me that story."

"Oh. Now you understand our situation?"

"I think I do. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're here in search of Sheena Fujibayashi. You willingly allowed yourselves to be brought here knowing full well that you might not make it back. But judging from what I've heard about you guys, you are going to try to get back, anyway, am I right?"

"Of course," Lloyd said.

"Oh, so you don't like it here? I'm hurt."

"Well, it's good that your sense of humor is still intact," Luke observed.

"Yeah. Honestly, I didn't know whether I would still have it or not. I'm glad I do. So-" he clapped his hands and rubbed them together—"any idea what's for breakfast?"

"I'll make it," Genis volunteered.

Jane took a step forward. "Wait. I can't simply let a guest make breakfast for us. I'll be happy to make it."

"It's fine. I enjoy cooking and I'm really good at it, too."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Alright, if you insist."

"What do you have here?"

"Well, we have cereal, milk, bacon, eggs, just about every breakfast imaginable."

Genis asked everyone, "What do you guys feel like having?"

"I'll be fine with whatever you make, Genis," Lloyd said. "I'm so hungry I don't care what you plop in front of me."

Colette asked Jane, "Do you have fruit of any kind?"

"We have apples, bananas, watermelon…"

"I'd be happy with just some apples."

Genis said as he got some bowls out, "Okay. Fruit for Colette. Anything else?"

The conversation carried on for a little while longer. The Symphonians and Lyle's family, including himself, eventually decided on having precooked hash browns, sausage biscuits with egg, and pretty much all of the bacon. It was a lot, but then again, there were a lot of people who were starving.

As Genis got everything ready, Lyle asked the Symphonians, "So what's the plan for today?"

Lloyd said, "We're going to begin searching for Sheena in the nearby town. Uh, what was it called again?"

"Midvale."

"Right. What we're going to do is split up and then meet back here for lunch. We'll share what findings we've got and then resume searching throughout the afternoon."

"What if she isn't in Midvale?"

"If that's the case, then we'll begin searching the countryside."

"The countryside? That's a lot of ground to cover. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"We already swore that we would find her no matter what."

"I see. This is a huge task. I can't let you guys do this by yourselves."

"You're willing to help, Lyle?"

"Yeah. Though I first met you yesterday, I already feel like you guys are some of my closest friends. I'll do whatever it takes as well." He didn't quite feel this way, but it was close enough.

"I'll help, too," Martin said.

"As will I," Luke piped up.

"I'll do whatever I can," Jane said.

Lloyd smiled. "Thank you for your support. We leave once everyone has finished breakfast." Everyone agreed.

Everyone got in a line and grabbed whatever food they wanted. It was sort of like how lunch was served at a barbecue. Luckily, there was enough for everyone. Lloyd mostly got bacon with a little egg while Colette was content with a few slices of apples and some blueberries. As they ate, Lyle and his family were complimenting Genis on what a fantastic job he did in making the meal. "Thank you," was all he said.

Marta chuckled. "This reminds me of my own cooking."

"You're a cook as well, Marta?" Luke asked.

"Sort of. I've been practicing all of my life; although I only became especially good recently."

"Just thinking about how you were before makes me nauseous," Genis said.

"Yeah, but at least I'm pretty good now. I figured out a couple years ago that tasting my food was essential to cooking."

"You've been cooking your whole life and yet you never tasted your own food until then?" Lyle asked.

"That's right. At the time, it seemed painfully, maybe even laughably, obvious."

"I bet. How was your cooking before you figured that out?"

"Well…let's just say that I knocked Emil out once."

"You were that bad?"

"Mm-hmm. Emil said later on that it was so delicious that he couldn't take it, but I saw right through it. It was kind of him to try to tell me that."

"Well, at least you're not as bad as Raine," Genis said. "Just thinking about that…ugh, I just lost my appetite. There's some untouched bacon here if anyone wants it."

"I'll take it!" Luke said without hesitation. He immediately picked up the strips and put them on his plate.

"Well, that was fast."

"Don't mind him," Martin said. "Eating is one of his favorite pastimes. It's strange how he never gains weight. In fact, he's known among the Connaway's for having a 'bottomless stomach.' You were saying?"

"Well, actually, when Raine cooks normal food, she's average. It's when she experiments that she gets awful. Like one time, she tried to make chocolate-covered baked potatoes."

"What?" Lyle asked.

"I kid you not. She also tried to make spicy cake."

"What?" Lyle asked again, a little louder.

Marta spoke up, "There was another time when she gave us rice-stuffed lemons. Baked, too."

"WHAT?" Lyle almost shouted.

"I didn't know about that," Genis said. "When did she try to make them?"

"It was before we met up with you," Marta said. "Terrible, terrible things."

Jane spoke up. "One time I tried to combine pickles and ice cream."

"What?" Lyle asked, this time softer. There was also a twitch in his eye. Everyone else cringed and groaned a bit. "What made you create such a horrible thing?"

"It was when I was pregnant with Martin. I found myself craving those things so I decided to combine them. It didn't work out, though."

"Frankly, I'm not surprised."

Marta clutched her stomach and set her plate down. "I'm full."

"Are you really full or did you lose your appetite?" Lloyd asked.

"Both," she simply replied.

"Well, I've lost mine. Is everyone finished?"

"I'm not, but I can always save it for later," Luke said. "So shall we get going?"

"Alright. Let's head out!"

Everyone got up to leave, but as they were about to step outside, Lyle said, "Hold on a second."

"Huh? What is it?" Lloyd asked.

"Going outside in the clothes you're wearing now would attract attention that we don't need."

The Symphonians looked at what they were wearing and compared them to what the Connaway family was wearing. Lloyd said, "Oh, I see. That's a great idea, but we didn't bring a change of clothes."

Lyle turned to his brothers. "Is one of you willing to share?"

"I don't have a problem with it," Luke said.

"Great! You okay with this, mom?"

"I don't mind," Jane said.

Lyle turned to face the Symphonians. "Alright. We'll give you guys some clothes to wear during the day. Is that fine?"

Everyone nodded in agreement. "That's a good idea, Lyle," Lloyd said.

"Thanks."

"Sounds exciting!" Colette said enthusiastically. Lyle gave Genis a blue tee shirt and a pair of jeans while Martin provided a black shirt and pants for Lloyd. Jane provided both Colette and Marta a set of her own clothes. Both ended up wearing all white with jeans. All took turns in the bedrooms changing. Everyone seemed comfortable and fine with what they were wearing. Colette asked, "Why is this shirt so baggy? There's a lot of room in here, but I have no idea wha—oh."

Everybody laughed. Genis said, "That's our Colette!"

"Okay," Marta said. "That's everyone. Let's get going!" The group finally made it out the front door at about 10:00. The road was, as usual, empty and devoid of any traffic, perhaps even life. It seemed very gloomy for some reason.

After about 20 minutes, everyone arrived. The town was practically empty. There wasn't a soul in sight. _That's weird,_ Lyle thought, _there are usually more people around. But then again, summer just started. Maybe they're all just out of town._

Colette spoke up, "Okay, how are we going to do this?"

Jane suggested, "Maybe we could split off in pairs. Since there's eight of us, we could divide into four groups and check the northwest corner, northeast corner, so on. And then we'll slowly make our way towards the center and look as a group."

"That sounds…pretty good, actually," Genis said. "You came up with that pretty quick."

"I have a variety of scenarios planned out in my mind in case one of my sons were to get lost and wander in town."

"Oh, I see. Precautions and all that."

"Exactly."

"Alright. I say we go with her plan," Genis said to everyone. There was no argument among them.

Lyle turned to Colette. "Do you want to be partners?"

She smiled that goofy grin she has. "Sure! I'd love to." Lyle smiled back.

Marta suddenly started giggling. "What is it?" Lyle asked.

"Nothing," she replied, still giggling. "I think I'll go with…Martin. Are you fine with that?"

Martin was smiling now. "Sure, no problem."

"I'll go with Genis," Lloyd said.

"Okay!" he said.

"That leaves Luke and I," Jane said. "You up for it?"

"Sure." Then he muttered under his voice, "It's not like I have a choice."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

"Okay, that's enough," Lloyd said. "Genis and I will cover the northwest."

"We claim the northeast!" Martin said.

Colette asked Lyle, "Does southwest sound good to you?"

"Yeah, of course. It's not like it matters." Then he announced, "Colette and I will head southwest."

"That leaves the southeast for mom and I," Luke said.

"Alright! Now that that's settled, let's move," Lloyd said.

The four pairs now split off. Once everyone else disappeared out of sight, Lyle realized that everyone was suddenly happy. Despite the events that happened only hours ago, everyone's faces seemed to shine. _Now that I think about it, I'm feeling glad, as well._

"I'm glad, too," Colette said.

"Wha-? Oh…did I say that out loud?"

She laughed. "Yes, you did."

Lyle chuckled a bit, too. Her laugh is extraordinarily addictive. Next thing they both knew, they were standing in front of the coffee shop, Seattle's Best. "Who's Seattle?" Colette asked.

"It's not a person actually. Seattle is the name of a major city about, oh, 400—500 miles northwest of here."

"That's a long way."

"Yeah. Let's head inside and see what we can find." The pair went inside to the shop where there was absolutely no one inside. Not even the people who usually worked there. "Okay, this is just plain weird."

"Where did everyone go?"

"I don't know. Stay here; I'll go check out the back." Lyle was just about to move when Colette grabbed him by the wrist.

"Wait. I have a bad feeling about this. Let's stick together."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Well, alright, but keep close." She nodded. Lyle led the way with Colette trailing behind. In the back, they found a hallway with three doors. He opened the first. Inside lay a pantry with an assortment of coffee, scones, and cookies, but there was no one in here. He opened the second. It was a janitor's closet judging from the rags and brooms. Again, there was no one in here. So he checked the third…

"Nothing," Lyle said out loud. The room was a walk-in closet where the smocks hung that they make the workers wear. "Let's move on." She didn't say anything. She just nodded. "Are you alright?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just nervous, that's all."

"I can hardly blame you." An idea suddenly came to his mind. "I want to check something. Come on."

Lyle walked briskly out the front door. Colette followed barely keeping up. Just around the corner was Jason's, the Freshman's, house. He went up to it and knocked on the door. "Is there someone you know here?"

"Yeah. My best friend."

"Oh! Maybe he could help in our search, too!"

"Maybe." But Lyle wasn't concerned about the search.

After a moment, nothing happened. So Lyle decided to try to open the door. As expected, it was locked. He walked over to one of the windows and tried to pull it open. _Of course, _he thought, _I should've expected the window to be locked._ He moved on to try to open the rest on the first floor. All were shut tight. Then he had an idea. Looking around, he saw that there was no one around. He turned to Colette. "Hey. Can you fly with those wings?"

"Yup!"

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Of course. What is it?"

"Would you mind flying up to the second floor and checking to see if those windows are locked, too?"

"No problem. I'll be right back." Colette's wings popped out of nowhere on her back. They started flapping furiously. And yet, not a speck of dust was disturbed by it. As she lifted off of the ground and climbed to the first window, Lyle thought, _You truly are amazing, Colette._

She yanked on the first one. "This one's no good," she called down.

"What about that one?" Lyle asked, pointing to the window that was next to it.

"This one…is locked. I can't open it."

"Okay. Keep going around. Check every one."

"Alright." She flew over to the window on the right side of the house where Lyle was standing. She pulled on it and it gave way slightly. "Ah! This one's unlocked!" She pulled again, but it stayed in place. "Uh-oh, it's jammed."

"Try pulling a little harder," Lyle called out.

She grunted in effort and then suddenly, the window popped right out. Colette found herself holding the entire thing. "Uh…oops," she laughed nervously.

"It's fine, Colette. Put the window somewhere in the house and come unlock the door."

"Alright. I'm coming." With a little effort, she managed to get the window inside and then gracefully fit herself through the opening.

Lyle was just standing there patiently when someone tapped him on the shoulder form behind. "Excuse me," a male voice said. He turned around and saw a man, taller than he was, wearing a black cloak with a hood which hid his face. Lyle yelped and jumped backwards. "Hey! Whoa, calm down, little guy. I just want to ask you something."

"Little?" Lyle asked. The man ignored him.

"I'm looking for some friends of mine. Have you seen Sheena Fujibayashi or Lloyd Irving?"

Lyle was caught off guard. _How did this guy know about them?_ "We're looking for Sheena right now. And Lloyd is…somewhere else around town. I can't remember where he went."

The man lifted his head slightly revealing a broad grin. "So you've seen Lloyd? Is everyone else here?"

"If you mean Colette, Marta, and Genis, then yeah."

"I see. That's great news! Where are they?"

"Checking out the town, look—wait. What exactly is your relationship with them?"

The man simply chuckled. "They're close friends of mine."

"Oh, really? What's your name? And how about you pull back your hood?"

"That's not a problem." He reached up and took off the hood, revealing a handsome man about the same age as Lloyd with long red hair. "My name is Zelos Wilder. I am also known as the Chosen of Tethe'alla."

Lyle felt relieved, but only slightly. "Zelos? The Idiot Chosen?"

He sighed a deep sigh. "Yeah, that would be me."

"Marta told me about you as she was explaining how everyone arrived here at Midvale. Did you arrive here the same way?"

"Well, yeah, but I'll save the story for when we gather everyone else. Where are we meeting?"

"Once everyone is done searching their corners of the town, we'll meet in the center and then search as a group."

He nodded once. "Okay, that's good. When are we going to meet?"

"Well, we didn't exactly plan out a specific time. We meet when we finish."

"Okay. How close are you to being finished?"

"Geez, calm down. Why are you so impatient?"

Zelos looked around worriedly and then leaned close and whispered in Lyle's ear, "I heard rumors."

Lyle furrowed his brow. "What rumors?"

"The reason why everyone is gone."

"Which would be…?"

"There is supposedly a leak of nerve gas in this area. Everyone received the memo so they moved out."

Lyle turned to face the redhead. "What are you talking about? If there was a memo then my family would have received it."

"Do you actually live in the town?"

"Well, no. But I still would've gotten it."

"Have you considered the fact that maybe your house was unaffected so they never told you?"

"Well, maybe….Wait, this still makes no sense. If there is nerve gas in this area, why aren't we affected? Surely it would've killed us by now."

"Well, it was only a rumor. Everyone heard and believed so they evacuated."

"I see." Finally, the door opened and revealed Colette with her wings still out. "Welcome back."

"Colette!" Zelos cried out and then ran towards her.

"Zelos!" she cried back. They both hugged very tightly. Colette's grin was even bigger than before. Even Zelos seemed pretty happy. After a moment, they pulled back. "How did you get here?"

"The same way you guys did." Before she could respond, he quickly added, "But I won't tell you the story right now. I want to wait until everyone is present before I tell you the whole story. And also, what happened to your clothes?"

"Lyle's family was kind enough to let me borrow some clothes. Continuing to wear our own clothes would only draw attention. Speaking of which, why are you wearing that cloak?"

"I realized the same thing you did. I went to the store and bought this thing. Let me tell you, though, this thing is really hot, but it's better than getting weird looks."

"How'd you buy that with no one here?"

"I got it before everyone left."

"That's amazing; I didn't know they sold cloaks like that here."

_You and me both, Colette,_ Lyle thought.

As they were talking, Lyle suddenly felt like the fifth wheel. Suddenly he wasn't really needed. It felt a little awkward. So he left them and walked inside the house.

All the lights were off. There were two doors to the left. One led to the kitchen while the other went to the laundry room. On the right was a wide opening which led to the family room. There was a staircase which began right in the middle of the first floor and then split off in opposite directions once it reached the far wall. The right was Jason's room. The left was his parents' room.

Lyle first began with the family room. As usual, it wasn't completely tidy but it wasn't especially messy either. There were a couple mugs on the coffee table plus a dirty plate. There was nothing out of the ordinary…except the couch. It seemed a little off. Was it moved?

He walked over to it. Yes, there was something wrong. The couch was moved completely up against the wall. There was always a little space there. Also, it seemed a little higher than usual. So Lyle lifted the back end and then gasped with fright. Both of the Freshmans' parents were lying there, still as a corpse. Corpse…

Lyle flipped the couch over and it landed on the coffee table, which was able to support its weight, apparently. He got down on his knees and checked their vitals. Thankfully, they were still alive. He also noticed that their hair was slightly wet. Wet with blood. Someone knocked them out.

That's when Colette came in followed by Zelos. "Lyle!" she said. "Don't go on your own like that. You sca-." She stopped short once she saw the bodies.

Zelos saw them, too. "Oh, man. What happened here?"

Lyle whirled on him. "I thought you said everybody left!"

Zelos grew irritated. "Well, obviously, I was wrong. Are they alive?"

"Yes, they're fine; just knocked out." Lyle suddenly smacked his palm and ran around the house. _How could I forget about Freshman?_ he asked himself. He first began with the kitchen, then the laundry room, his bedroom, and then finally his parents' bedroom. All the while he was shouting, "Freshman! Are you in here?...Jason, where are you?" He came back down the stairs, out of breath, saying, "He's gone!"

"Could he have just left without his parents?" Zelos asked.

"No, he wouldn't. Not willingly, anyway." An idea occurred to him. He went right out the door.

Colette ran after him. "Lyle, please, wait for us! Where are you going?"

"I'm going next door to see if it's the same there."

"Hey, I've got an idea!" Zelos shouted behind him. "How about telling us what you're going to do _before _you do it? Show that you have a brain!"

"Shut up! I don't care!"

"If you don't care, why did you tell me to shut up?" Lyle ignored him. He went up to the front door of a green, one-story house with a brown front door and a screen door. At this point, Lyle could care less that he was invading someone else's home. He went inside and searched it, first beginning with the family room, then the kitchen, and finally the bedrooms. There was no one inside.  
>Once he finished searching the final bedroom, he turned around to find the other two standing and waiting for him. "Well?" Zelos asked impatiently. "Have you found anything?"<p>

"There's no one here," Lyle said. "Is there any pattern to this at all?"

"There's not enough information to determine a pattern, Lyle," Colette said. "We only checked out a coffee shop and two houses."

"Oh…right. Let's move on." The trio marched back outside into the very-nearly-noon sun, they immediately headed to the next house. This time, Lyle didn't go running off. He realized just how immature he acted and felt ashamed of himself. But he kept these feelings secret.

The three searched the brick, two-story duplex. There was nobody in either of them. Lyle fell behind again, thinking about what could be going on. So far, the only place with people still in them was the Freshman's house; but, everywhere else is completely empty. Why? A theory that made Lyle's heart beat a little faster popped into his mind. That's when he spoke up. "Hey, guys?"

Zelos and Colette turned to face him. "What is it?" Colette asked.

"I want to investigate Jill's house next."

"Okay. Where is it?"

"Not far from here. You see I think I have an idea as to why-."

Zelos' eyes suddenly widened. He shoved both Lyle and Colette to the side shouting, "WATCH OUT!"


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Lyle fell down onto the street. He caught himself, scraping his hands on the concrete. As he was lying on the ground, he heard a metallic _ping._ Looking in the direction it came from, he saw a kunai knife clatter to a halt on the street. _Zelos just saved my life._ As he got back on his feet, he saw the red-haired Chosen clutching his right ear. There was a trickle of blood going down his neck. Colette seemed to notice as well, but she was standing still. Her attention was elsewhere.

"Where'd he go?" Zelos asked.

"I don't know," Colette said.

"Where'd who go?" Lyle asked, getting back on his feet.

"It was an assassin," Zelos said, drawing his blade. Or was it a dagger…?

"An assassin?" Lyle asked. "Who was he aiming for?"

"He wasn't aiming at anyone."

Lyle was standing up, dusting himself off. "What are you talking about?"

"I didn't realize it until after it nicked my ear, but the knife was only a test. A test to see how fast we could react to it and reveal our limits and abilities."

"And you can do this with just one knife?"

"If you are skilled enough, maybe. But a more effective test would be to attack multiple times."

"So then…"

"It's not over. Do you know how to use a weapon?"

"Well, I have a sword at home. I practiced with it a few times…"

"Close enough." Zelos held out the steel blade to him. "You're going to need this."

Lyle hesitated at first, but he grabbed the hilt and felt its weight in his hand. It was a little heavier than it looked. "What about you?"

"I have another sword," he said, drawing that one out. "I always bring an extra just to be safe. Alright, back-to-back!" All three formed had their backs to one another so they formed a triangle. Zelos asked the other Chosen, "Colette, do you hear anything? There's nothing on my side."

"I don't hear or see anything on my side, either."

"It's the same for me," Lyle said. "Maybe he just left after all?"

"Possibly," responded Zelos. "Keep your eyes open." While it was true that there wasn't anything on his side, that could change at any time. So Lyle kept his eyes moving. A barrage of questions pounded through his mind as he was doing so. _What if someone attacks me? Will I be able to defend myself? Will I be able to defend both Zelos and Colette? If the time comes, will I have the courage to take a human life? What if my family is going through something like this? They can't defend themselves…or at least I don't think they can. What if one of them dies? _Lyle shook his head and cut off that line of thinking. It wasn't going to do him much good.

A moment passed without a sound. Finally, Colette said, "I don't hear or see anything. I think they're gone."

"Yeah," Zelos responded. He turned to face them. "Let's get back to ever—GUUUH!" Zelos was suddenly thrown forward, in between Colette and Lyle.

"Zelos!" Lyle shouted. He saw him bounce on the ground a couple of times and then roll to a stop. He then heard the sound of a blade being drawn from its scabbard. Both him and Colette looked and saw a man dressed in all black, wearing a mask that covered all of his face except for his green eyes. Black? In the daytime?

"A ninja? You got to be kidding me!" Lyle cried out. He swore and prepared himself for the assassin to strike at him. But he instead charged at Colette beginning with a swipe from the left to the right. She jumped backward, dodging the attack. Then she twirled around, pulled a ring out of nowhere, and then threw it at the assassin. With a flick of his sword, the ring bounced away, landing back into Colette's hands.

The assassin lunged, but Colette dodged to the left and then swiped her ring, aiming for his neck. He ducked just in time and then slammed her in the back with his elbow. Colette groaned a bit, but whirled back around to face the attacker.

Zelos got back into the action. He came from behind the assassin and cut his left arm as he passed him and got in between Colette and the assassin. The man clasped his hand over his wound. Zelos smiled and wiggled his finger at him. "Now, now…that's no way to treat a lady."

The assassin responded by reaching into a pocket with his right hand and pulling out three shuriken in between his fingers. He threw all three at Zelos, who dodged all three by simply jumping to the right.

Zelos, swinging his sword from upper left to lower right, unleashed a massive red and orange wave of energy that gave off an extreme heat even from where Lyle was standing. He had to turn away it was so intense. The wave shot out at the assassin, moving almost too quick for the eye to follow. In front of the wave, the cement was crumbling and was pushed aside by the wave; behind it, a deep rut formed, with only melted concrete still within it.

But the assassin reacted quickly. He dropped the blade and with a wave of his hand, an energy shield enveloped him just in time for the wave to hit. He put his hands up against the shield, as if they were keeping it in place. The wave seemed to persist for a long time, pushing harder and harder. The assassin barely managed to hold his ground, though he skidded a couple of times. And then suddenly, the wave was gone, dissipated.

So Zelos sent a couple more at him, swinging his sword straight down, then straight up. The first impacted the shield the same way the previous one did. But the second one, once it hit, fused with the first one, and accentuated their power. Now the assassin was skidding down the street. Now he was fighting a losing battle.

The assassin's reaction was slightly different, though. He removed one of his hands from holding the shield, maintaining it with the other. Then with that hand free, he started performing hand signs. What they were, Lyle did not know. Once those were complete, the man placed his hand back on the shield and it started to glow red. The wave suddenly seemed to lose its form and went into the shield. It was being absorbed. It got to the point where the wave was completely gone and the shield was completely red.

Zelos, Colette, and Lyle were waiting to see what the assassin planned on doing. They didn't have to wait long. The assassin lowered his arms. The shield was still active. And then he performed another series of hand signs, this time with both of his hands. Once those were done, he held out his arms in front of them. The shield began opening up from behind him like double doors. They spread out so the entire shield was in front of him.

Then Zelos figured it out. "Oh, no. EVERYBODY RUN!" But he reacted too late.

The shield suddenly shot outwards towards Zelos, Colette, and Lyle. As it came closer, the windows on the buildings it was passing completely shattered. The shingles were ripped off and ripped apart. The street lights twisted and bent out of shape. The leaves were blown off and burned into ash.

It hit Colette and Zelos first. They were sent flying into the air, followed by Lyle. Once the wave hit him, it was like a giant sledgehammer with a head as big as Lyle's body smacked into him. He could've sworn that a few bones broke. And not only that, it felt like he was on fire. He was sent flying. He had no idea how far.

However, he did land on something that was actually quite soft. He couldn't tell what it was.

The massive counterattack faded. The dust was undoubtedly disturbed, as it was all over and doing its best to sting Lyle's eyes. It settled down, though, and soon everything was visible. Zelos and Colette were just getting back up from the attack. They were burned a little and had a few scrapes, but other than that, they were fine. Lyle sat up and looked over himself. His limbs were still attached, no broken bones as far as he could tell, just burns. Although, they did hurt quite a bit.

Lyle got back on his feet, cringing. _It could've been worse_, he thought, _I could've landed on something hard. Come to think of it, what did I land on?_ He looked down to see that there was nothing but cement beneath him. It definitely wasn't that that caught him, so what did?

"Are you guys alright?" Zelos asked.

"I'm fine," Colette said.

"I got a little cooked, but I'm okay," Lyle said, intentionally quoting the movie. "What was that?"

Zelos shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. Where'd he go?" He was looking for the assassin. He disappeared all of a sudden.

"Could he have used that…whatever that was to escape?" Lyle asked.

"It's unlikely. It's clear that he has enough skill to take all of us on at once. It wouldn't make any sense to let us go now."

"I see. You know, you're a lot smarter than most people make you out to be."

"About time someone noticed."

Lyle muttered, "A simple thank you would suffice." He kept scanning the surroundings, hoping to find him before he kills them. And then, the assassin appeared before him, only a few feet away. "Guys!" he shouted. Zelos and Colette turned to him and saw the man dressed in black.

Lyle prepared himself for a fight, going into a battle stance that he often saw in the movies. He wasn't sure how this was going to help, but maybe it'll make him look a little braver than he actually was. The assassin began walking in his direction; just walking. Is he going to attack…?

The assassin walked right by Lyle, without a single glance at him. He was clearly focused on Zelos and Colette. Lyle didn't know whether to be grateful that he wasn't attacking him or insulted that he didn't consider him a threat. Soon, the assassin's back was completely turned on him. That's when Lyle saw his chance.

He lunged at him, aiming to stab him in the back. But the assassin turned around suddenly and deflected the blow to Lyle's right using only his palm. He twirled around and landed a kick at the back of Lyle's neck. Lyle fell face-first into the hard concrete, unable to move. There was nothing keeping the assassin from killing him.

Once again, Zelos charged. He first swung his sword from the right to the left. The assassin jumped backwards, thankfully away from Lyle. Zelos came at him, swinging from the upper left, then straight up, and finally straight down. He dodged all of them. At first, Lyle wondered why he wasn't using the sword he had before, but then he remembered that he dropped it before. It was probably still there.

The assassin then struck him with a left hook across Zelos' face. And then…Zelos got angry. He started swinging his sword every which way at him with a very angry, beastly look on his face. The assassin couldn't find a chance to strike. He just kept dodging.

Until finally, he misread one of Zelos' moves and he was kicked in the stomach. He was thrown backwards and slammed into the wall of the duplex. Before he could get back on his feet, Zelos put the point of his blade to his neck. It was finally over.

"I must admit," Zelos said, "you were quite a challenge. Rarely does anyone put up a fight like that anymore. Well, enough complimenting. I have some questions for you. First off, why did you att-?"

"Hey, Zelos, when did you get here?" a voice asked from a distance. Lyle, who was now getting back on his feet, saw that it was Marta, who was followed by Martin. Lyle felt glad to see them, though his body was completely numb and his head was throbbing.

Zelos seemed to be caught off guard since he looked quite surprised, but he waved back. "Hey. Glad to see th—ooooof!" The assassin threw his heel into Zelos' stomach. Zelos stumbled backwards clutching the soon-to-be bruise. Then the assassin made one single hand sign and then a puff of smoke popped out of nowhere, shrouding him. "Hey!" Zelos shouted. He got back on his feet and then ran his sword through the assassin's neck. Except that the neck was no longer there. None of him was. Once the smoke cleared, the assassin was gone and Zelos's blade only struck the building. He cursed, pulled his sword out, and put it away.

"He's gone," Lyle said.

"What happened here?" Martin asked.

"We were attacked."

"Attacked? By wh—what the heck?" Martin grabbed Lyle by the elbow. "You have burns on your face! And your clothes are charred!" He shouted this as if Lyle was the only one who was hurt. "What happened to you?"

Lyle was about to answer when he realized that he didn't know either. So he turned to the Idiot Chosen. "Yeah, Zelos, what happened here?"

"What do you mean?"

"That wave attack you used earlier, the shield the assassin was using, the…thing that burned us like this…I could go on."

"Well, that wave attack as you called it is actually the Demon Fang."

"Demon Fang? That's a pretty cool name."

"Meh. The shield is called the Guardian. I can do it. Watch." Zelos waved his hand like the assassin did and sure enough, it appeared and surrounded him completely. And then after a few seconds, it was gone.

"Wait. If you can do it, why didn't you use it when the assassin used that…that…what is that attack called?"

"Now, _that_ I don't know."

"Why you didn't use the shield or what that attack is called?"

"The attack. And the reason why I didn't use my shield…I don't know that either, actually. It never occurred to me." Lyle silently took back that comment about Zelos being smarter.

"How did you get here?" Marta asked.

"Later. Right now, we need to assemble everyone and get out of here before _they_ are attacked."

"Okay, good point. Let's hurry." Marta took off running while everyone followed behind.

Right before Martin took off, he saw the devastation that was wrought and then turned to Lyle. "How did you manage to survive?"

"I don't know. Luck, I guess."

The four ran across the town, silently praying, when Lyle abruptly realized something. "Which corner did Mom and Luke take?" he asked everyone.

"It was the southeast," Colette answered. "Why?"

Instead of answering, Lyle asked, "How good are Lloyd and Genis in a battle?"

"They're some of the best."

"Okay. Let's head southeast. I don't think my mom and Luke could defend themselves worth a darn." _I hope they don't end up like Jason's parents. _The parents! Lyle swore and then smacked his head against a nearby wall three times.

"What's wrong, Lyle?" Colette asked.

"_I _went wrong! How could I be such an idiot? Jason's parents were just unconscious. And I left them there. I left them there!"

"Oh, that's right! We should bring them to safety. Don't worry, I'll go!"

Lyle looked at her with a confused look on his face. "All by yourself?"

"She has those angelic powers, remember?" Marta said. "I heard stories of how she managed to lift Regal Bryant with one arm. And Regal was—and, of course, still is—a full-grown adult with huge, gigantic muscles."

"So you don't have anything to worry about," Colette said. "I'll get them over to your house, alright?" Her wings popped into existence and started flapping wildly just like before. "I'll be right back!" she called out as she was shrinking into the distance.

They all started running southeast. As they ran, Zelos asked Lyle, "You okay, bud?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"That was the fourth sigh you just made."

"Oh…it's just…his parents."

"You're still upset?"

"I just left them there! If anything happened to them while you were fighting…."

"Stop blaming yourself, kid. You're talking as if you're the only one responsible, but you're not. I, honestly, forgot too. And Colette…well…she's Colette."

"Yeah, she's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed, but she's still pretty amazing."

Zelos suddenly pointed at his face. "Aha, there it is! That half-smile, the glint in your eyes, it's all back. That talk of ours helped, didn't it?"

"Yeah, a little."

"I'm now realizing just how amazing _I _am. Come on, Lyle, you think I'm amazing right?"

"I wouldn't go so far as to call you amazing…but you're okay, Zelos."

"Ah, close enough."

They made it to the southeast corner without incident. Lyle, panting, shouted, "Luke! Mom…where are…you?" There was no response. "Luke! Where…are you?" Still nothing. "Where are they?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Martin asked.

"Feel free to answer if you know."

"I don't."

"Obviously. Let's start looking here." Lyle pointed at the nearest building.

They first searched in the Sunrise Café which is one of the finest diners in Midvale. After a thorough search, they found nothing. Next they searched Jim's Market. Again, nothing. Then they came across a red building with four different apartments; two on the first floor and two on the second.

"I remember this place," Lyle said, "Apartment 3—that's the one on the second floor to the left—is Sharon's apartment. I'll search that one."

"Alright, I'll go with you," Zelos said. Lyle wasn't expecting him to say that, since it seemed like he would much rather go with Marta, but he nodded anyway. "We'll take the top floor."

"Okay, Martin and I will take the bottom floor," Marta said. Lyle couldn't help noticing that Martin was a little flushed.

Before they split off, Lyle whispered to Martin, "You do know that she has a boyfriend, right?"

"She does?" He looked slightly devastated.

Lyle and Zelos hurried up the stairs before he could say anymore. As the duo reached the door, Zelos said, "You better let me open it."

"Why?"

"To exercise caution. You never know what could happen." Before Lyle got the chance to agree with him, Zelos twisted the doorknob slowly and carefully. Then he opened it and peeked inside. "Doesn't look like anything's in here."

"Maybe we should do a little more than a quick glance at the front door." Lyle stepped in front of him and into the apartment despite what he said about caution. He turned to face Zelos and began walking backwards. "You know, what they said about you is true. You are a pretty good fighter, but you can get pretty la—." Lyle bumped into the wall behind him.

"Careful, Bud," Zelos said. "Keep walking backwards like that and you could trip over something."

"I'm fine," Lyle said. "Let's just get to searching." He walked into the living room and then tripped suddenly over the leg of the couch. He fell onto the blue carpet.

"Well, that's ironic…" Zelos observed.

Lyle groaned, feeling the pain of the burns on his body. _Perhaps Marta has a treatment. _He got up on his hands and knees and then noticed something weird about the carpet. "Hey, come here. Feel this."

Zelos got on one knee and pressed his hand down on the carpet. "I don't know what you're getting at."

"Try pressing harder."

He did so. "There's a slight depression here?"

Lyle nodded. _Is he getting dumber by the minute? _"Stand back. I want to try something."

"Try what?"

Lyle raised the sword that he borrowed from Zelos earlier, point down. "This." _Please forgive me Sharon._ He stabbed into the carpet and started cutting it around the depression.

"Whoa, what are you doing? You can't just go around cutting people's carpets!"

Lyle said as he kept at it, "I came to visit about a week after she arrived and went to school. This depression definitely wasn't here when I visited."

"Ah…" Zelos was oddly silent after that.

Once Lyle finished, he peeled back both the carpet itself and the foam padding beneath it. "Ah, look at this."

"This wood…"

"The wood beneath here is definitely not particle wood. That's what is usually beneath the floor. I don't know what this is, but it is a lot more flexible."

"I see. So someone ripped out this particle wood and then replaced it with this?"

"Yeah. This sort of thing couldn't have happened by accident. Let's rip it out."

"Right." Zelos pulled his sword out and started to cut. Lyle did the same on the opposite side. Lyle was a little nervous. He had no idea what waited beneath. But despite that, his curiosity proved to be stronger so he kept on cutting.

Finally, the wood started to slip below. What little they could see revealed the space in between the floor of Sharon's apartment and the ceiling of the apartment below them. Lyle and Zelos stuck their swords inside and then used them as leverage to prod it open. Once the opening was wide enough, the two stuck their arms inside and pulled as hard as they could. Finally, they heard a loud crack. It gave way. They folded the wood all the way over.

"Oh, my…" Lyle said as he looked below, growing nauseous quickly.

"You're telling me," Zelos said.

"I can't even remember their names..."

"Who were they?"

Lyle stood up, doing his best not to vomit. "They were Sharon's parents." He walked over and slammed his fists into the nearest wall. "What's happening in this town? What possible reason is good enough for murder? Or better yet, where is Sharon? Is she under there?"

Zelos shook his head. "As far as I can tell, there's no one else here."

Lyle took off down the hallway and checked the bedrooms all the while shouting, "Sharon! Are you here? Come on out if you can hear me!" All rooms are empty. He came back into the family room where Zelos was now standing. "Where did she go?"

"Don't ask me," Zelos said.

"It's just like with Jason. His parents remained while he was gone. But everywhere else is completely empty." Lyle chewed on this information for a bit.

"What are you thinking?" Zelos asked, noticing the expression on Lyle's face.

"One more place."

"What?"

"If my theory is correct, then I just need to check one more house."

"Which one?"

Before Lyle could answer, they heard footsteps come into the door. Zelos raised his sword, ready to take down whoever came in. Lyle did the same. Then the mystery person came in. Both sighed with relief. It was Colette. "Whoa, you scared me for a second," Lyle said. "Did you get, uh—shoot, I forgot their names—did you get Jason's parents to safety?"

"Y-yeah, they're…they're fine, but there's something more important going on that needs our attention."

Lyle sensed the desperation in her voice. "What is it?"

"I heard a commotion downstairs. It sounded like a body hitting the floor."

Lyle's eyes grew wide. Martin and Marta….Lyle immediately ran outside and down the stairs. Zelos just leapt over the railing on the top floor and then rolled once he hit the bottom. Lyle was just behind him when he kicked the door down and ran inside.

"STOP!" a voice so firm and loud that the two froze in position seemed to come out of nowhere. But in actuality, it came from the assassin standing in front of them who was, again, wearing black. _Are they seriously wearing black in the daytime? What are they—idiots? _Another thing Lyle noticed was that the man had blue eyes. This assassin wasn't the same one as before. And next to him, four people were bound tightly: Martin, Marta, Luke, and Jane. The assassin took his sword to Martin's neck. "With every step closer that you take, one head will roll."

"What is it that you want?" Lyle asked.

"We want Lloyd Irving."

"Lloyd? Why?"

"That is none of your concern. Where is he?"

Zelos shrugged. "Honestly, we don't know."

The assassin was silent for a moment. Then he finally said, "Fine. We'll be taking you hostage as well, then." _He really bought the whole "we don't know" thing so quickly?_ Lyle wondered.

Suddenly a blade was pressed against Lyle's neck. His body was completely rigid in an instant. He traced the blade—which was a kunai knife- with his eyes back to the bearer. And then his jaw dropped. "C-Colette?"

Chapter 8 Coming Soon…


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The coldness of the kunai knife spread from Lyle's neck down to the rest of his body. If he moved even an inch, his life would end very abruptly. Or slowly…

Colette was standing in between Lyle and Zelos, holding a kunai knife in each hand to their throats. What happened to her rings? "Drop your weapons," she ordered. Lyle looked to Zelos to see what he would do. He dropped his sword; Lyle did the same. The assassin before them kicked them to the corner of the room, bound their wrists and ankles, and gagged their mouths, first with Zelos, then Lyle. He pushed them to the floor next to the other prisoners. Zelos managed to turn his head so his cheek absorbed the impact from hitting the carpet. Lyle did the same.

"This only leaves Lloyd and Genis," the assassin said.

"Yes," Colette replied. "Shall we continue with the same strategy?"

"Of course. Find them and lead them here."

She nodded and walked out the door. Lyle still had trouble believing what he saw. Did Colette really betray them? No, she wouldn't do that. Is she an imposter, then? If so, how long did she take the place of Colette? Was there a Colette to begin with? Was this Colette the imposter and the one from before was the real girl? Lyle felt like smacking his head on the wall, which he did once he noticed that he was sitting right next to one. _Why are there so many unanswered questions?_

Lyle suddenly received a fierce kick in the leg from the assassin. "If you do that again, you will force me to cut off your fingers and stick them-!" Lyle blocked out the rest. All that he remembered was that he was serious and sounded like he would really do it. So he just sat tight waiting for something to happen. Finally, something did.

Colette stepped inside with no one following her. "Where are they?" the assassin asked.

She looked at him and simply shrugged. "They refused to come."

"What do you mean, 'they refused to come'?"

"Exactly as it sounds. I told them that all of their friends are being held hostage and that they needed to come. They simply replied, 'There are more important things at hand right now.'"

The assassin just glared at her for a moment. Then out of nowhere, produced a shuriken and threw it at Colette. She smoothly jumped out of the way. "Liar!"

"W-what are you talking about? I'm not lying!"

"I have a fair knowledge about Lloyd's and Genis' character. They would respond immediately, not brush it aside. You made it all up! A truly foolish attempt to lower my guard." _Lower his guard? _Lyle asked himself. _That's the real Colette!_

"I guess I've been caught." The assassin suddenly turned around, then leapt backwards. Lloyd appeared where he was and struck downwards with both twin blades, missing him. Now he was in between the assassin and the hostages.

"Ah, Lloyd Irving," he said. "It's been—what? Four years since we've last seen each other?"

Lloyd seemed confused at first, but then something suddenly clicked. Lloyd's expression grew serious. "I admit, your new look threw me for a second, but your voice is unmistakable. Hello, Kuchinawa."

_Kuchinawa?_ Lyle asked himself. _They know each other?_

"Where have you been all this time?" Lloyd asked. "And how did you get here?"

"That is none of your concern right now. If you surrender yourself to us, we will let everyone go."

"What is it that you want with me?"

"Again, that is none of your concern."

"It is every bit my concern!"

"I am unaccustomed to repeating myself."

Lyle sighed. "Fine, then. Let us take this outside."

"Do you take me for a fool? I'm not going to let these prisoners alone to be freed by your friend, here." He indicated Colette. "Now surrender yourself or you will force me to execute one of them."

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm in between you and the prisoners. I doubt you will get very far."

"You shouldn't speak so confidently. My skills have increased tenfold since our last encounter."

"I could say the same for my own."

"We shall see." Kuchinawa, with a flick of his wrist, took out one kunai in each hand. He threw the one that was in his right hand at Lloyd's forehead. Lloyd sidestepped the knife, missing his head by less than an inch. He charged at the man. He swung the blade in his right hand to the left. With the kunai, Kuchinawa blocked the strike. Lloyd swung his other sword to the right. Kuchinawa pulled out yet another kunai and blocked that strike as well.

The two were in a lock. Lloyd pushed hard against his defense, while he pushed back harder. While this was happening, Genis came from the back and started cutting the prisoners free with a knife that he had, starting with Marta. Kuchinawa noticed this going on. He saw the knife that he threw at Lloyd before on the ground. He kicked Lloyd away and stepped on the blade end of the kunai, sending it flying up. Once at the proper height, he kicked it and sent it flying right at Genis. He deflected it with the knife in his hand. "You've had training with a knife, I see," Kuchinawa observed.

Genis ignored him and finished cutting Marta free. She picked up her spinner, which was lying in the corner, and then charged at Kuchinawa from behind. Once she was close enough, he simply threw his foot out and kicked her in the stomach. She fell over backwards.

She got back on her feet just in time for yet another assassin to strike her from above with a sword. She managed to block it in time. Lyle realized that this was the same one that attacked them earlier. Apparently, he managed to recover that blade. Genis now cut Zelos free. Zelos quickly grabbed his weapon and tried to stab the assassin that attacked Marta. But something seemed odd about that attack. It seemed to move slower than usual.

The assassin easily dodged to the right and then cut him from the right side of his waist to the left shoulder. It was a very deep cut. Blood spurted from the wound. Zelos groaned, stumbled backwards, and then fell. "Zelos!" screamed Marta. She started running toward him to administer treatment, but the assassin stepped in between them. He aimed for her neck. She got down on her knees and slid beneath the sword. Then she got back up, turned around, and struck his blade with her spinner. It was spinning violently, so each prong struck the blade with startling speed, shooting out sparks in all directions. She pressed harder for a moment, but the assassin persisted.

Then she kicked out at him, landing it right below the belt. Lyle winced. There has to be a rule somewhere about not hitting a man in his weak spot. The assassin groaned and clutched his "two best friends." Then Marta struck him with her spinner, carving a red horizontal line across his chest. Blood spurted and started running down his outfit as he fell to the ground, unable to fight anymore.

Marta immediately ran over to Zelos and began treating him. She placed some dressing on his wound and put some herbs that she kept in her pockets in his mouth and in the wound.

Lyle was watching this when he suddenly realized something. Colette never joined the fight. What's going on? He looked over and saw that she was already in a different battle. Apparently, the Colette imposter came back and is taking on the real one outside. The only way to tell them apart was the weapons they were using.

The real Colette, with both rings in her hands, struck violently four times at the fake one. Her attacks were blocked with the kunai, but then she spun around with her arms outstretched. The strength of the attack knocked the fake off balance. Then as she whirled to face her attacker, she tossed one ring up in the air, pulled a para ball out of her pocket, and threw it at her. The fake barely managed to recover and block the attack in time, but then as soon as the ball struck against the kunai, a lightning bolt came out of nowhere and blasted the fake backwards. She flew about fifteen feet, bounced once, and then rolled to a halt.

Colette threw another one, but the fake recovered quickly. She disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the para ball to bounce harmlessly across the ground. She reappeared behind Colette. She threw the kunai, aiming for her heart. Colette saw it coming and tried to dodge to the left, but the knife buried itself into her shoulder. Blood immediately began running down her arm and torso. She cried out in pain and fell on her knees. Her body wanted to fall over, but she refused to let it do so. Instead, she stood back up with her right arm now hanging limp.

Colette suddenly started glowing. Her wings grew from her back and she lowered her head as if she was praying. A pinkish, purplish aura surrounded her. Feathers started materializing and rising from the ground all around her. The fake knew what she was doing and wasn't about to let her do it. She immediately threw another kunai at her. This time she would never be able to dodge it. This time it would pierce her heart.

Time seemed to slow down at this time. The knife slowed down to the point where it seemed to be biding its time, enjoying the moment leading up to the kill. Colette knew what the result of this would be. It was going to be very close, though.

The knife drew closer and closer, almost agonizingly slowly. Finally, it drew to within a foot of her chest. That is when the charge was complete. An angel feather appeared and shot through the kunai. The knife immediately shattered into hundreds of harmless bits of metal. The feather, followed by two more, shot outward toward the fake at blazing speed. She couldn't dodge it in time. The first went straight through her left shoulder, the second went through her right hip, and the last went through her left leg. She immediately collapsed. Colette really wanted to do the same, but she lumbered over to where the fake lay.

She was just getting close when the fake disappeared into a puff of smoke. Colette turned around, waiting for an ambush to happen, but nothing came. The battle was over.

Genis came over to Lyle and started cutting him loose. "We're meeting outside," he said. Lyle nodded. Once he was free, he started heading to the front door, but hesitated. A voice in the back of his mind was saying,_ Don't leave. It's not right to leave them like this._

But then a different voice in his head shouted, _What are you doing? Run, you idiot! Run!_ The former surprisingly proved to be the stronger.

Lloyd charged at Kuchinawa. He brought both swords down hard. Kuchinawa jumped to the left. As soon as the blades hit the floor, he leapt onto Lloyd's arms and then back-flipped off of him, kicking him in the chin in the process. Lloyd fell backwards onto his back. Kuchinawa pulled a sword out and leapt in the air, aiming to stab him. But Lloyd rolled backwards, narrowly missing the point of the blade, and got back on his feet. Kuchinawa's blade embedded itself into the floor. He couldn't pull it out. Lloyd took the opportunity.

He aimed the point of his blade in between Kuchinawa's eyes and charged. He didn't see it coming. The sword went straight through his head, splattering blood and brain matter all over the carpet. This was the end. Lyle was feeling nauseous from watching all of this blood being spilled, but once he saw the blade protruding from the back of Kuchinawa's head, he couldn't hold it in any longer. He barely managed to make it to the corner of the room, before his breakfast ended up on the floor. He just kept going and going until his stomach was completely empty. Lyle knew then that that image would haunt him for the rest of his life.

But then a puff of smoke surrounded Kuchinawa suddenly and the body turned into a cushion that was from the nearby couch. The blood and matter disappeared as well. Lloyd swore and ripped his blade out, spreading the fluff that was contained inside. He looked around closely, waiting for the attack that was to come.

Kuchinawa suddenly appeared to Lloyd's right and roundhouse kicked him in the face. Lloyd crashed against the wall, but he managed to maintain his balance. He came back at him, swinging the sword in his left hand to the right. Kuchinawa caught Lloyd's wrist in his hand, stopping the blow. Then he twisted his arm around behind his back. Everyone in the room heard a very loud crack. Both of the twin swords fell from Lloyd's hands. An initial scream escaped, but it quickly turned into groans.

By this time, Genis had freed everyone except Martin. Lyle wondered what was happening, but then he noticed that Lloyd's shoulder was bulging a little. When he realized that Lloyd's arm was out of joint, he thanked his lucky stars that there was nothing left for him to throw up.

Genis finished cutting Martin free and then noticed the trouble that Lloyd was in. He threw that knife at Kuchinawa, but a shuriken knocked it off course. Both he and Lyle saw where it came from. Not only was the assassin still alive, he was standing. _He's persistent, I'll give him that, _thought Lyle.

Kuchinawa threw Lloyd into the wall, his forehead smacking against it. He fell onto the ground, unconscious. "Lloyd!" Lyle shouted. Genis then took out his hollow, wooden toy that was shaped like a cross and had a ball and string attached to it. A toy? Really? What's that supposed to do?

Genis swung it so the ball went straight at him. It moved really fast, but Kuchinawa reacted faster. He caught it in his hand as if it he had done it hundreds of times. "I always thought that kendama of yours was pretty pathetic, but this…this is just an embarrassment."

Genis gritted his teeth and turned bright red from anger. He tried to rip the ball out of Kuchinawa's hands, but the man's grip was strong. Realizing that this was futile, Genis dropped the kendama and leapt at him, eager to beat the crud out of him. But Kuchinawa caught him mid-flight in the neck. Genis groaned with Kuchinawa's hand crushing his throat and his feet dangling off of the ground.

"It's a real shame, Genis. Without your magic, you're about as useful as a cockroach infestation. Your knifing skills might have saved you, but it's too bad you lost your weapon already."

Genis managed to force out of his throat, "Stop talking as if I'm already dead. And what makes you think I only have one knife?" He suddenly pulled a knife out and thrust it into Kuchinawa's chest. Blood shot out and got all over the knife and Genis' hand.

He fell out of his grip. Kuchinawa just stood there staring with disbelief at the blade now stuck in between his ribs. Was it finally over? Just like before, there was a puff of smoke that shrouded him. In his place was the same cushion from before. Genis swore, pulled the knife out, and shouted, "ENOUGH OF THESE CHEAP TRICKS!"

Before, after the deflection of Genis' knife when he threw it at Kuchinawa, Marta stood up from treating Zelos and challenged the assassin. "I thought I killed you."

"From a scratch? Not likely." Lyle was surprised to hear the guy talk. He seriously thought he was mute or something. And did he just say that the wound that was dripping with blood was a scratch? Who is this guy?

The assassin picked up the sword he had before. He attacked, striking at her from below. She managed to extend her spinner and block it. He then struck from the left, upper right, lower right, and then upper right again. Marta managed to block it all, though the second strike was pretty close.

Then he started repeatedly striking her from above. He was trying to break Marta's guard and looked like he was succeeding. With every strike, the point of contact in between the sword and the spinner came closer and closer to Marta. She can't hold out for long.

At first Lyle wondered why she couldn't just jump out of the way, but then he realized that she was keeping Zelos covered.

Genis realized this mess that Marta was in and he charged at the assassin. He threw his entire weight into a body slam and managed to knock him off his feet. Marta let her arms drop. She was exhausted and very near her limit. "Thank you," she panted.

Colette now came inside. Lyle noticed the kunai still embedded in her shoulder. "Colette, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she groaned. "It's only a shoulder wound. I've been through worse."

"Shouldn't you be lying down?" Lyle asked worriedly.

"Thank you for being concerned, Lyle, but I can't rest right now. It still isn't over." With that said, she walked—or more like stumbled—over to where Genis and Marta were. The assassin had gotten back on his feet by the time she reached them. All three waited for the assassin to make a move.

He suddenly made that same hand sign that he made before and disappeared in a puff of smoke before anyone could react. He was gone. "Wait," Genis said. "This makes no sense. Why did he-?"

Lyle saw Kuchinawa appear behind them so silently that not even Colette heard him. With sword already drawn, he moved to strike them down. No one saw what was coming next.

Somehow, Lyle was able to move in between Kuchinawa and the Symphonians and block his attack with a blade that materialized on its own in his hand. Kuchinawa was caught by surprise just as much as Lyle and the other three. "Lyle?" Marta asked.

"Don't ask me," he replied with a little strain in his voice. Looking at the sword now in his hands he realized that it was the blade that was always hanging in his room. How did it get here? It couldn't have showed up on its own, could it?

Kuchinawa jumped backwards. "How did you…? That ring. What is that jewel on your ring?"

Lyle had completely forgotten about his ring. He paused to look at it. It was still the same as it was before. Silver body and… "It's an aqua stone. What of it?" Before Kuchinawa could answer, the house suddenly started to shake. Lyle found himself swaying, trying to keep his balance. "What's going on? Is this an earthquake?" Lyle saw Kuchinawa's head lift as if something just acquired his attention. He immediately turned around and bolted out the door. "Wait!" Lyle shouted. "What did you say about"—

A gigantic stalagmite shot up right next to them. As it came up, it grew wider and wider. The house suddenly lifted at that end, violently sending everyone to the floor. They slid until they hit the wall.

Everything stopped just as quickly as it started. The floor was now approximately at a forty-five degree angle. Lyle was lying against either the wall or the floor; he couldn't tell the difference any more. Somehow, Marta ended up on top of him, lying on her back with her head on his chest. She groaned, sat up, and started rubbing her back. "Are you alright?" Lyle asked.

She turned as far as she could without moving her whole body and saw Lyle. "Never mind me. Are _you _alright?"

"I'm fine." Oddly enough, it didn't seem like he was hurt at all. "You're the one who looks like you're in pain."

"I landed on something, but I'm not sure what."

"Um…that was probably me." Lyle looked around and saw the couches and tables of which were toppled over and piled against the same wall they were against. It was a wonder that they weren't crushed. Then he laid eyes on the stalagmite protruding from the floor and disappearing into the ceiling. "What happened here?"

"I'm not sure, but it looks like one of Genis' spells, except much bigger."

"One of my spells?" Genis asked. "Yeah, it does look like Stalagmite."

She stood up. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm fine, but I think Colette's been knocked out."

Lyle started getting back on his feet. "How is she?"

"Let me take a look at her," Marta said as she clambered over them.

Lyle was about ready to stand up when he felt something strange. "Hold still!" he shouted. Everyone froze in their tracks. "Do you feel that?" Of course, it stopped right when he said that.

Genis picked up on it right away. "I felt it, too. The house was swaying a little."

Lyle pointed at the stone pillar. "That's what's holding us up. How does that work?"

Genis took a moment to think about this. Then finally, "If this is something like Stalagmite, then the most likely reason is that there's an outcropping of earth jutting from the pillar that isn't sharp enough to pierce through, but strong enough to support the weight of both the building and us. That would also explain why the house hasn't completely broken in two."

"But if we lean too far to the left or right…"

"…the house will break apart and we will fall to the ground, perhaps our deaths."

Lyle formulated a plan in his mind and pointed to the nearest window. "Genis, you look out there and see how far we are off the ground. Marta, look over Colette and see what happened to her. Move carefully." Then something just occurred to him as the other two made their way through the wreckage. "Where're Zelos and Lloyd?"

"I'm over here," a voice echoed throughout the house.

"Lloyd? Where are you?"

"I'm in the hallway. Right as I came to, the house suddenly flipped upside-down!"

"Alright, hang tight. The house isn't on the ground right now and it feels like it'll come down at the slightest movement."

"How far off the ground?"

Genis shouted, "About twenty feet! If we jump off, we will definitely suffer a few broken bones! And that's if we land right! If we land wrong…" There was no need to finish the sentence.

"Can you climb up?" Lyle asked.

"Right now?"

"No, not right now. What I mean is when it's safe to climb up, will you be able to?"

"Probably not. My arm is still out of joint. I can't move it."

"Don't worry. We'll figure something out. Where's Zelos?"

Marta was still tending to Colette, so Genis looked around. "I don't see—wait! There he is." He slowly made his way past Lyle over to an overturned couch against the wall. Once he reached it, he lifted it up, revealing the redheaded Chosen. "Oh, great," he said. He tried holding the couch with one arm and dragging him out with the other, but he couldn't do it. So he turned to the other two. "Uh, a little help here?"

"I'm coming, just hold on a second," Marta said.

"He looks to be in pretty bad shape."

"Alright, I'm coming," Lyle said. "Stay where you are, Marta." He carefully got on his feet and slowly walked over to Genis. Thankfully, it seemed they were in a more stable position than he previously thought. There wasn't any more swaying or even metallic groans.

Lyle bent down beneath the couch and dragged a still unconscious Zelos out from beneath it. He really did look bad. Some of the dressing was ripped away, revealing the nasty wound beneath it and letting blood run down his body. He also had a purple spot on his abdomen.

Once Zelos was completely clear of the couch, Genis set it down gently. Lyle let go of Zelos and sat down, catching his breath. "He's heavier than he looks," Lyle remarked.

Genis sat down next to him. "I could say the same thing about the couch." He looked past Lyle at Marta. "How's Colette? Is she alright?"

Without looking up, Marta said, "I'm pretty sure I know what happened. Her body was already pretty weak from the knife in her shoulder. It looks as if the knife burrowed deeper when she smacked against the wall. Perhaps she fainted from the pain." She frowned. "Although, there is also this bump on her head. She could've hit her head and fell unconscious from that. Or perhaps a combination of the two…"

"Marta," Genis interrupted. "We got it. Would you mind looking at Zelos now?"

She looked up at him and then shook her head. "Right, sorry." She was about to come over, but she stopped. "Maybe one of us should switch places to keep things balanced."

"Good idea. I think Lyle should switch."

Lyle looked at him. "Wait, why?"

Genis turned to him. "Think about it. If we were separated between lightweights and heavyweights—with you and Zelos being heavyweights and the rest of us lightweights—and if you went, there would two lightweights and a heavyweight over here and a lightweight and heavyweight on the other side. If I went, there would be two heavyweights and a lightweight on this side and two lightweights on the other side. But then again, the latter is already happening right now and nothing seems to be the matter. But on the other hand, if we make things more balanced, then it would be more likely that we will survive this."

"Um…you kind of lost me. Or was that rant not directed at me?"

"Just go to the other side. Trust me."

Lyle stood up. "Okay, that I understand." He made his way to the other side, carefully passed by Marta, and sat down next to Colette.

Marta reached the other Chosen and looked over his wound. "It just needs some redressing. He's going to be fine."

Genis pointed at the purple spot on him. "What about that?"

"That…is just a bruise. It's probably from when the couch fell on him. Although it is odd that he only got a bruise in one place and the rest is blemish-free."

"In a nutshell, he's fine, right?" Lyle asked.

"Yes, he'll live."

"Alright. I believe our next priority is to find a way to get Lloyd up here. Once that's done, we'll figure out how to get down without killing ourselves."

"Who made you in charge?" an unfamiliar female voice asked.

Lyle was caught by surprise. He looked around looking for the owner of that voice and saw a young woman standing right by the stalagmite. She had raven-colored hair, a purple tunic, dark blue skin-tight jeans (or something like that), blue boots, a pink ribbon around her waist, and a knife strapped on her back. "Who are you?"

Genis smiled. "Shame on you, Lyle. She's the one we told you about. Sheena!"


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"You're Sheena?" Lyle asked.

"That's right." It looks like she climbed up the stalagmite and managed to squeeze her way through a hole in the floor next to it. She was just about to step off.

"Wait!" Lyle shouted.

She stopped with her foot in mid-air. "What?"

"The house isn't stable right now. Any added weight could cause it to fall."

"Relax," she said and then stepped onto the house. She half-slipped, half-walked her way down toward the hallway. "The house is actually really stable. I saw it sway before, but it moved into a more stable position. We're actually free to move around. You guys go ahead and climb down the stalagmite. There are footholds all the way down. I'll find a way to help Lloyd out."

"Wait a minute," Lyle said.

Right as she was about to disappear around the corner, she stopped. "What is it? And hurry up, we have things to do." This was the first time, he had a clear view of what she looked like. She was drop-dead gorgeous. Her features were perfect and…that _body_. "Spit it out!" she shouted.

Lyle shook his head, snapping out of his thoughts. "Right, sorry." _That wasn't very gentlemanly, Lyle, _he told himself. "How are we going to get Zelos and Colette down?"

"Oh, I almost forgot." She reached into a pocket and pulled out some rope. "Tie this around their waists and then lower them."

"Alright, thanks." Lyle gratefully took the rope. She resumed sliding down the hallway.

"Sheena, is that you?" Lloyd asked.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Man, what a relief to hear your voice."

"It's nice hearing your voice, too….Lloyd, your arm! What happened?"

"I was attacked by Kuchinawa."

A deafening silence followed. Then finally, "Kuchinawa? He's here?"

"Yeah."

"But how…how could he have hurt you so bad?"

"His skills have improved. In fact, they might be greater than my own."

Another silence followed. Then Sheena said, "I've got an idea. Stay still."

Lloyd chuckled. "It's not as if I'm going anywhere."

While they were talking, Marta stood up and said, "I'll go ahead and descend so I can receive the wounded and make sure nothing happened to them."

"Wait a minute," Lyle said. "What about Colette? Are you going to remove the knife?"

"It's best that I leave it in, right now. Just pulling it out will do more damage than it already has. When we get out of this mess, I'll surgically remove it."

"I see, but…are you absolutely sure?"

"I'm the doctor, remember?" She smiled as she climbed up the awkwardly angled floor, grabbed hold of the stalagmite, and made her way down.

As they tied Zelos up, Lyle realized something odd. He turned to Genis and said, "You know, you didn't seem surprised that Sheena had arrived."

"That's because I figured out why this stalagmite here is so huge."

"Um…okay, that's great, but what does that have to do with Sheena?"

"You see, Sheena is a summoner, which means that she can call forth powerful beings, summon spirits. The only one who could've created this thing is Gnome, the Summon Spirit of Earth."

"Honestly, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'll go along with it."

"You think I'm insane, don't you?"

"No. I'm friends with people from a completely different world—one of which is sort of an angel—and we are being attacked by assassins which could possibly be ninjas that wear black during the daytime. I'm half-expecting to see flying pigs sometime soon."

Genis laughed. "I see what you mean. But you forgot a half-elf in there."

Lyle looked at him. "Half-elf? What do you mean?"

"I'm a half-elf."

"Elf? As in…pointy-ears kind of elf?"

"_Half-elf._ I was borne of both human and elven blood." Lyle tried to form words, but he had no idea where to begin. Genis noticed this and asked, "You didn't know that?" Lyle shook his head. "I would think that that would be pretty obvious. It's the reason why I can use magic."

"But…didn't Kuchinawa say that you couldn't use magic?"

"That is true in this world. You see, in order to use magic, you need mana. And since there is no trace left in this world, my spells become useless. Which is really too bad, considering how much they could help here. Oh, well. At least I honed my knifing skills over the past couple of years."

"You know, I've been wondering. Why did you start using knives?"

"A couple of years ago, a Summon Spirit by the name of Ratatosk rewrote the natural law of our world so our land would no longer be dependent on mana. This way, he could slowly drain the mana out while everything else would be unaffected. Half-elves—myself included—live really long lives. So it was entirely possible that magic would become inert during my lifetime. So instead of focusing on magic, which I was already good at, by the way, I decided to take up knives. I thought about using a sword, but I couldn't hold it for very long."

"Oh, I see. That makes sense." Lyle lifted Zelos with a groan. "Colette was so much lighter," he managed to force out of his throat. He started climbing the floor, but slipped and fell forward. Luckily, Zelos remained in his hands. "Oh, forget this." Lyle put Zelos down. "If I keep at this, I'll wind up killing him myself." He waved him over. "Come on, I've got a better idea."

Both of them climbed up the wall with the rope in Genis' hand. Once they reached the stalagmite, they started pulling up the Chosen. "Hey, what's taking so long?" Marta asked from the ground.

"We've almost got it!" Genis called down.

Zelos was still unconscious by the time he reached the two. "That's kind of funny," Lyle remarked. "I was expecting him to be awake by now."

"Yeah," Genis agreed. "Me, too." He carefully pushed Zelos through the hole while Lyle kept hold of the rope. Once Zelos' full weight was supported by the rope, it sliced across Lyle's hands. He groaned as he felt the skin rub away. Genis quickly grabbed hold of it. It stopped sliding. "Are you okay, Lyle?"

It hurt a lot, but Lyle said, "Don't worry about me. Let's finish this quickly."

They quickly set up a rhythm with their arms moving at the same time. As they were lowering, Sheena came back. "Is everything alright? I heard groaning."

Lyle didn't answer. He was mostly focused on _not _groaning. So Genis answered, "We're fine. How's Lloyd?"

"He can't climb up with only one arm. I'll need to help him up."

She started untying the bow around her waist. Lyle couldn't help but stare as he kept lowering. "What is she doing?" Lyle whispered to Genis.

He was staring, too. "I have no idea."

"Hey, you can stop, now!" Marta called out. Both snapped out of their trance and stopped. Lyle put the rope beneath his arm and studied his hands. They were covered in blood.

Genis saw them, too. "You know, you can rest if you like. Sheena and I can keep working."

Lyle shook his head. "No, it's fine. I can't sit by and let you guys do everything; it'll take longer. And the sooner we get out of here, the better."

Genis started pulling up the rope. "I can tie up Colette by myself. Sit down and rest."

"He's right," Sheena said. With her bow now untied, her clothes were now loose and looked more like a multilayered robe than anything else. The cloth was now just one long strip. "Get some rest."

"But it's only a flesh wound," Lyle said.

"Sit down, Lyle!"

"Are you _trying_ to slow us down? This is nothing compared to what the real wounded have!" Sheena threw the cloth to the floor, marched over to Lyle, and yanked on his hair near the front so he was forced to look at the floor. "Gah, what are you doing?"

"Look at yourself!" she shouted. Lyle winced when his hair was yanked off, but when he opened his eyes, his mouth fell open. The clothes he was wearing were all charred and blackened from that energy wave the assassin sent at him. His eyes trailed from his arms to his hands. They were burnt. Not quite blackened, but pretty close. He could imagine this all over his body. It was a miracle he wasn't set on fire. Plus, there was where the skin was rubbed away. "You _are_ wounded! In fact, it's a wonder you're standing at all! You shouldn't push yourself, otherwise you'll wind up killing yourself, you idiot! Yes, I understand our work will be slowed, but it will be a great tragedy if you wind up killing yourself in the process! So sit down and shut up!"

Genis, who was watching the scene unfold, remembered what he was supposed to do and made his way to Colette. Lyle gritted his teeth as he felt anger welling up inside him. He didn't feel nearly as bad as he looked. He can still help out! But he grabbed Sheena's wrists, removed them from his scalp, and calmly said, "Fine. I'll go sit down." He settled on the wall next to the hallway. "You happy now?"

Sheena didn't say anything as she picked up the fabric she dropped earlier, held onto both ends, and sent the middle down the hallway. "What was that all about?" Lloyd asked.

"It's nothing," Sheena said. She pulled the knife from its sheath on her back and stabbed the wall.

"What are you doing?" Lyle asked. "We don't have time for you to take your frustrations out on some plaster." She pulled the knife out and turned around as if to rebuttal Lyle's comment, but decided against it and stabbed the blade in a different place. She repeated the process one more time. This time, the weapon was lodged in place and wouldn't move. As she started tying one end of the cloth to it, Lyle figured out what she was doing. "You know, you could've explained it to me."  
>"Explained what?"<p>

"The fact that you lodged the knife in the wood beneath the wall—oh, wait, that can't be it."

"Actually, you're right."

Lyle stood up. "But wait, if that's it, then how did you know that the house was framed with wood?" She jerked her thumb at the stalagmite. Lyle turned and saw wood protruding around that area. "Oh…" He always found it funny how some things that are obvious to everyone else completely escape his notice.

The two of them chuckled a little bit, but their laughter died away immediately. They were still a little angry at each other. Sheena finished tying the end and shouted down to Lloyd, "Alright. Test it. Is it good?"

Lloyd yanked on it. "Solid as a rock, but what's keeping this thing from tearing apart as I'm climbing up?"

"Don't worry. This is Mizuho's finest linen. It's strong enough to hold ten of you."

"You're exaggerating."

"Well, yeah, but the point is, it won't tear."

Lyle looked down at Lloyd. He really was a mess. There was a trickle of blood coming down his face. He kept one of his arms close to his body. That must be the one that's out of joint. And his clothes were completely torn up. "Alright, I'm trusting you on this." He put the linen around his lower back and slowly put his weight on it. Just as Sheena said, it did not rip. "I'm ready."

"Here goes nothing." Sheena started pulling Lloyd up with the untied end of the cloth as he walked up the tilted floor. He placed his uninjured hand on the wall for balance. Lyle watched as Lloyd carefully made his way up and Sheena strained to keep him from falling. When he was near the top, Lyle scooted over to give Lloyd room to sit, which is what the man did. Sheena was catching her breath while sweat was beading at her brow. "Whew!"

"Thanks a lot, Sheena."

"No problem."

"Hey, Lyle!" Genis called out. Lyle turned and saw him standing next to the stalagmite. "I've got Colette all tied up. Now I could use your help." With that, Lyle made a quick glance at Sheena. Then, without waiting for approval, he clambered over to him.

Colette was still out cold. _How long will she stay like this?_ Lyle wondered. The rope was tied roughly around the Chosen's waist with the rope leading to Genis' hands. Lyle took hold of the rope and felt it burn his hands. But he didn't care.

Just like with Zelos, they pulled her up the floor and then lowered her down to Marta. Once that was done, Sheena used the rope to tie up Lloyd. She started pulling him up as he walked up the floor, exactly like in the hallway. Genis started taking a break so Lyle took position in front of her and started helping him up. "Lyle," Sheena said, "do you-?"

"No. You don't need to remind me."

"Let me finish. Do you know why I said those things?"

"You said so before. 'My death would be a great tragedy.' Am I right?"

"Yeah."

"Sheena, listen. I feel I should apologize for my snide behavior after your little talk. It's just that while I was on the other side of town and while I was in here, I was completely useless. So I felt that I should make up for it by helping out in every other way I can. And give each task my maximum effort."

"I see. You don't need to apologize. I suppose I could've handled it better. I'm sorry."

Lyle had to admit that he was a little surprised to be hearing this from her. "Your frustration is understandable. Although, I do find it a little odd that you reacted so strongly, especially since we just met."

"Yeah. That's the strange part." Lyle felt himself blush a little bit and for once, thanked his lucky stars that he had burns. Lloyd reached the two and then got down and was lowered by Lyle and Genis. Sheena watched the redhead work and said, "Let me ask you something. Exactly how much pain are you feeling right now?"

"There is some pain, but it's more uncomfortable than anything else."

"That's it?" Genis asked. "Just uncomfortable?"

"Yeah."

"Lyle, when we get out of this, I'll get Marta to take a look at you."

"She examined me only a few hours ago. There's no need."

"Lyle, you should be lying on the ground, writhing in pain."

"Please stop, Genis. We already had this discussion."

They brought Lloyd up to the hole and started lowering him down.

"I'm only bringing it up again because…well…frankly, you're scaring me. It's like you turned into a zombie or something."

Lyle sighed. There was no getting out of this. "Have you considered the fact that maybe I have a high threshold for pain?" In truth, he had no idea pain could be so tolerable.

"If that's true, your threshold is as high as the old Tower of Salvation."

Lyle looked at him. "Tower of Salvation?"

"It's a tower in our world that was used to symbolize freedom and restoration. It was destroyed four years ago, unfortunately."

"How tall was it?"

"No one knows exactly. It's so tall that no one bothered to measure it."

Lyle tried to pictures something like that in his mind, but couldn't. "That's hard to imagine."

"It's one of those things where you had to have seen it to believe it."

"No doubt."

Lloyd finally reached the bottom. Marta untied the rope and carried the man to safety. Sheena pulled the rope up.

"Since all of the wounded…" She glanced at Lyle. "…well, almost all of the wounded are down, it's our turn. Lyle, you go first."

He sighed and said, "Alright." He was sick and tired of arguing.

"Before you go, tie the rope around your waist."

"I'm not going to be lowered. I'll climb down." Lyle figured that they were both pretty exhausted. There's no need to tire them further.

"Well, even so, if you slip, we can hold onto the rope long enough for you to regain your footing."

"But, wouldn't I just slip through the knot?"

"Not if you tie it tight enough."

Lyle had to admit that it was hard to argue with that. He went over to the rope and was about to pick it up when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh, wait! I almost forgot!" He went over to the lopsided kitchen and just as he thought, his sword was still there. In fact, he must've landed on top of it. He was lucky he wasn't sliced in half.

Lyle picked it up and started making his way back to the other two. Before he could take two steps, however, a very familiar puff of smoke appeared right next to him. Lyle immediately prepared himself for a fight (as if he stood a chance). And sure enough, when the smoke cleared, the assassin identified as Kuchinawa appeared before him.

Chapter 10 Coming Soon…


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

There was no movement whatsoever at first. Lyle, Genis, Sheena, and Kuchinawa just stood there, staring at each other. Lyle wondered what exactly he was doing. Why isn't he attacking them? Lyle looked at the other two, expecting them to strike first. Genis seemed about as combat ready as he could be, but Sheena seemed a little shaken. Her eyes were focused intently on him, but she was breathing a little heavier than normal.

A very tense moment passed before Sheena finally said, "What do you want?"

"It's been a long time, Sheena. I heard that Chief Igaguri is nearly dead and that you were going to accept your position as Chief."

"How'd you know about that?"

"A member of my squad overheard the conversation between Marta and Lyle here."

Lyle stepped forward with the sword still held out in front of him. "How could you have done that? Colette was right next door."

Kuchinawa sighed. "You haven't figured it out yet, have you? Not even the Chosen's ears can hear us as was demonstrated in the previous battle."

"Stop gloating, Kuchinawa," Sheena said. "It doesn't suit you. Why are you after Lloyd?"

Kuchinawa turned to her and said, "That is none of your business. I came to deliver a message."

"Spit it out, already!"

"It's not for you." Kuchinawa turned away from her and settled his eyes on the redhead.

Lyle subconsciously tensed up and tightened his grip on the hilt of the blade. "What's the message?"

"I came to deliver a warning. It is true that our target is Lloyd, but we have come across someone of equal value. You."

Lyle let the blade fall to the ground, but he still kept a firm grip on the hilt. "Me? Why? What makes me such a threat?"

"Because you passed the test."

Lyle gulped. "What test?"

Kuchinawa continued as if he didn't hear him. "I want you to understand that there is nothing you can do against us. You can run, but we will catch you. You can hide, but we will find you. You can fight, but we will kill you. No matter what you do, how far you travel, how deep in the shadows you go; we will hunt you down and slice your throat."

Lyle had to admit that he was really intimidated. But then he realized something. "If there is nothing I can do against you, then why do you consider me to be as big a threat as Lloyd?"

"My message has been delivered."

"Oh, so I got you there, huh? Perhaps I do stand a chance against you after all."

"Don't get overconfident."

"So you're going to stop ignoring me? A shame, really. You were doing so well."

"I have one last piece of advice for you."

"And he's back on track! Give him a round of applause, folks!" Lyle stuck the blade into the floor and clapped mockingly.

Kuchinawa remained silent for a moment. Lyle wondered if perhaps going sarcastic on him wasn't such a good idea. But then he spoke, "You…remind me of an old friend. Or rather how he used to be."

"Who?"

But he resumed ignoring him. "My advice is this. Your family no longer needs any involvement here. It would be best if you sent them far away."

Lyle couldn't believe what he was hearing. First Kuchinawa tries to intimidate him, and all of a sudden, he's trying to help him? What's going on here?

"Why are you telling me this? And what's stopping you from killing them while they're away?"

"You have my word that they will not be harmed."

Lyle shook his head. "You don't seriously think I'll believe you. You bound our wrists and ankles and you attacked and nearly killed all of us. What makes you think I'm going to start trusting you?"

"Because you have no choice. Whether I'm telling the truth or not, you need to send your family away. If they stay, they'll be killed."

"You make it sound as if I'm not going to be among them."

"I don't think I need to repeat my warning. You need not worry; I will keep Kuchinawa off of them."

Lyle frowned. "But you're Kuchinawa…" Kuchinawa suddenly seemed to be caught off guard. Before he could say anything more, Lyle continued, "You're not him. Who are you?"

He disappeared in a puff of smoke. Once it cleared, standing in his place was the unknown assassin. "Alright, you caught me. I fail to see why I should keep up this charade anymore, anyway."

"Why were you disguised as Kuchinawa?"

"I felt that I would be more intimidating if I was Kuchinawa."

"Uh-huh…." Lyle saw Sheena sneaking up from behind him. "Exactly how valuable is your word?"

"It's value is equal to my honor as an assassin."

"Honor? There is honor in what you do?"

The assassin sighed. "There is honor in every assassin. Some more than others. I'm one of the former. I promise you. Your family will not be harmed."

Sheena suddenly took out a string of what appeared to be pieces of paper and threw them around the assassin. They created a barrier that prevented him from moving. Then she drew the knife she had strapped to her back and jumped on him, driving the blade into his neck. Because she penetrated his artery, blood spewed all over Sheena, the walls, and the floor.

Of course, just like before the assassin and the blood disappeared in a puff of smoke and then reappeared in the corner. "I knew you were going to do that. It's only natural." He reached into one of his pockets and drew out four pieces of similar paper. Then, with one swift motion, he threw all four against the wall close to the stalagmite. Without looking at Lyle he said, "Remember my warning…and my advice."

He then performed two hand signs. Somehow, with that, the paper started sizzling and was set ablaze at the bottom end. Then, with that all too familiar hand sign, he disappeared. Why are those papers sizzling? How did he do that with just-?

"LYLE, GET OVER HERE, NOW!" Sheena shouted, interrupting his thoughts. Lyle didn't hesitate to pull his sword out of the floor and run in her direction. On the way, he saw Genis' kendama on the ground and scooped it up. As he came closer, Sheena pulled out a single card. She raised it above her head and suddenly all three were enveloped in smoke.

All three reappeared on the ground. Lyle couldn't stop himself in time and ran right into Sheena. Both were thrown off their feet and onto the street with Lyle on top. "Ow…. Are you alright, Lyle?"

"Me? I landed on _you._ Are _you _alright?"

"Um…" She suddenly grew very uncomfortable. "Fine. Can you please get off me now?"

"Alright, alright, fine." Lyle rolled off of her and stood back up, followed by Sheena. He looked up and saw the house still dangling off of the stalagmite at an angle steeper than he first thought. Something looked really odd about it, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Uh, Sheena? Why did you make it sound like we were about to die when nothing happened?"

"Those were explosives, Lyle. They were about to go off."

"Wait. Explosives? Pieces of paper? That blow up?" Lyle sighed. "Nothing in life makes sense anymore."

"But they haven't gone off, yet. Why?"

"Is it possible that they were fakes?" Right as Lyle finished asking that, the house suddenly blew up near the stalagmite. Pieces of rock, wood, and plaster shot out in every direction. The rest of the house plummeted down to the ground, crushing itself upon impact.

As soon as everything settled back down again, Sheena answered, "No."

"You know," Lyle observed, "I could almost literally feel that coming. No, I'm serious, if I wanted to I could've said, 'BOOM!' if I really wanted to."

"You said 'wanted to' twice," he heard a voice behind him. Lyle turned around and the Symphonians and his family safe and sound. Luckily, everyone was smart enough to get away. The one who spoke was Lloyd. "Glad to see you guys made it out okay."

"Well…we're okay. How's your arm?"

Zelos was still out cold, but it appeared that Colette had regained consciousness. Lloyd was sitting on the sidewalk while Jane, Martin, and Luke were in their own little group, but not too far away. "Better. Marta set it a couple minutes ago. The pain was unimaginable, but it vanished quickly. It's still a little sore, though."

"I see. That's great news!"

"Anyway, what happened? How did the house explode?"

"The assassin paid a little visit."

Sheena interrupted, "Not to be rude or anything, but we need to get out of here before they come back. We can explain everything later."

"I agree," Genis said. "But to where? They'll probably be expecting us to go back to Lyle's house. Is there another place we could stay?"

"I doubt they would be setting up an ambush. They may have inflicted heavy damage on us, but we did the same to them, remember? Colette, you sent three feathers through the fake. Marta, you cut up that assassin pretty badly."

Marta, who was making sure the bandage over Zelos' deep wound was nice and tight, stood up. "Wait a second. First of all, how did you know about those fights? Second of all, if you knew what was going on, why didn't you help? Third of all, that assassin received only a 'scratch' as he called it and Kuchinawa completely overpowered us. Not to mention that we'll put Lyle and his family in danger. They'll probably be going after them to take them hostages. What makes you think they won't strike again?"

"I didn't say that they won't strike again. My instincts tell me that they will lick our wounds while we lick ours. And about your battles, I was watching everything from a distance. My training as a ninja told me that it wasn't the right time to attack."

"It wasn't the right time to attack?" Genis asked. "You didn't show up until after the battle was over."

Sheena remained silent for a moment. What is she thinking about? Suddenly she said, "Fine! I didn't want to admit this, but here's the whole story. I watched all of you fight from a distance and decided to wait for an opportunity to strike out at one of the assassins. Because of my brilliant deduction, I let all of you get hurt and allow all of the bad guys to get away. There! I said it! Are you happy now? Good! Now can we get going?"

Sheena walked past everyone and without turning to face them. The entire group was silent and simply stared at her back. Marta's questions were justifiable, but they couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Perhaps they pushed a little too far.

Lyle ran up to her. "Sheena, wait!" He placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. She stopped, but she didn't turn around or say a single word. "Sheena," he began, "have you considered the fact that maybe you didn't strike because you couldn't find an opportunity? If you came in at the wrong time, the results could've been disastrous. Well, more so than it is already. Perhaps you did the right thing." Sheena still remained silent so Lyle said, "I'm sorry. I know that this isn't exactly helping…"

"No," was all she said.

Lyle lowered his arm. "Then I'm sorry. I wish I was a lot better at this." He turned around to face the others.

"That's not what I meant." Lyle whipped back around to see that Sheena finally turned to face him. Lyle had to admit that he was really impressed. There was very little emotion showing on her face. Not even a tear. But he could still feel what she was going through. "What I meant to say was, 'No, it is helping.' Thank you, Lyle."

He smiled. "I said I would help in any way I could, right?"

"Yeah, you did." With that said, she turned to the others. "Anyway, back on our previous discussion. Genis is right. Going back to Lyle's house isn't safe."

"What's with the sudden change of mind?" Genis asked.

"Marta proved her point."

"I see…" Lyle could tell from his tone that he wasn't convinced at all. Sheena seemed to notice it as well, but she didn't address it.

Lyle suddenly remembered something. "Wait a second! Jason's parents are up at my house. We can't leave them there."

"I'll get them," Colette said, weakly. She tried sitting up, but couldn't and ended up lying back down.

"It's okay, Colette," Sheena said. "I'll get them. I'm the least hurt of all of you."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. What about the rest of you?"

Marta said, "The first thing I think we should do is find some surgical equipment and medical supplies."

Jane spoke up. "There's a hospital not too far from here. That should have something."

"Great! Let's go there."

There was no argument from anybody. Lloyd stood up. "It's settled, then. Let's go." They decided that Martin and Lloyd should be the ones to pick up the two wounded. Since Lloyd was the stronger one, he picked up Zelos. Martin picked up Colette easily enough.

Lyle could tell that he was a little embarrassed, but Lloyd didn't complain.

Martin looked directly at Colette and asked, smiling and raising his eyebrows, "Come here often?"

She responded, "Uh, no. This is my first time here."

He chuckled a little. "Actually, I was…no, forget it. I was only kidding, anyway."

Lyle was just about to ask, "Do you have to hit on _every_ pretty face that you see?" It was at this moment that Lyle temporarily forgot that technically, Martin held some power over him since he was the oldest brother.

Sheena stayed with them for a couple of minutes. Right before they split off, she asked, "How do I get to the hospital from here?"

Jane pointed down the street. "Keep going down this way. Make a left turn at the second street down and then a right at the first street you come across. You won't be able to miss it." Sheena nodded and continued on her way. The rest kept moving.

"Uh, Lyle?" Genis asked.

He turned to him. "Yeah?"

Genis pointed at Lyle's hand. He looked at it and realized that he had forgotten about Genis' kendama. "Oh, right." He immediately handed the little half-elf his favorite toy.

Eventually, the one-story hospital came into view. It was the same as it usually was. The tan walls, the crooked windows, and the cracked stairs…. It never changed. The only difference was that there were usually one or two people bustling in and out of that place. Now it was completely barren. Lyle had never really thought about this, but Midvale had become a ghost town. It was hard to imagine it going back to normal after everything that has happened.

"There it is," Martin said.

"It looks pretty run down," Lloyd said.

"The local doctor, Frederick Shimmer, never really considered looks to be important in a hospital. Only the quality of care of the patients was the key essential. You don't need to worry. The instruments inside are top-notch."

"And you would know that how?" Lyle asked.

"Well…that's what I heard."

"Uh-huh…"

Just as they were getting close to the hospital, a puff of smoke erupted from the ground and the unknown assassin appeared. _Do these guys only travel by a puff of smoke? _Lyle wondered.

Lloyd didn't hesitate. He immediately drew his twin blades, raised them up, and sent a Demon Fang at him. Lyle was a little surprised. He didn't know he could use that. The assassin simply stepped to the right. The red-orange wave passed by him harmlessly and eventually fizzled out of existence. Lloyd was already charging him.

The assassin responded by…biting his thumb? What's he doing? A trickle of blood went down his hand. He performed four hand signs and then threw his bloodied hand onto the ground. Lloyd jumped up into the air, preparing to strike. A symbol appeared and grew larger around his hand. A huge puff of smoke came out of nowhere and engulfed both him and the assassin.

There was a very loud _ting!_ It sounded like steel striking steel. Suddenly Lloyd was thrown out of the smoke. He bounced and skidded across the street and ended up close to the group. _The assassin did that?_ "Lloyd!" Genis shouted. "Are you alright?"

Lloyd sat up with a groan. "This is bad."

"What'd he do?" Lyle asked.

"I think he summoned…something. I don't know what it is."

"Summoning?" Genis asked. "So he's a summonor as well?"

"What exactly did he summon?" Marta asked.

Lloyd responded as he got back up on his feet, "A monster. It's definitely not a summon spirit. Lyle, keep yourself and your family away from this thing for your own safety. Leave this to us."

"A-alright," he said. "Don't get yourselves killed."

"Don't worry. We're in situations like this all the time."

_Oh, that's comforting,_ Lyle thought. He kept silent, though. Everyone waited and prepared themselves for the terrible sight awaiting them behind the smoke.

Then it cleared.

Chapter 11 Coming Soon…


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

There was nothing. There was no creature or assassin to be found. The only thing that remained was empty space. "I could've sworn there was something there!" Lloyd said. Then he realized that he had accidentally dropped Zelos when he charged the assassin. "Oh, man. Is he alright?"

"He's fine," Marta replied. She was already making sure.

"That's weird," Genis said.

"The fact that I dropped Zelos?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm talking about the creature that was just summoned. How it disappeared. Let me take a closer look."

"I'll go, too," Martin said. He carefully set Colette on the street. "I'll be right back."

"Thank you," she replied.

"Be careful," warned Marta.

Genis and Martin carefully walked up to where the assassin once stood. "There's nothing here," Genis said.

"Then what threw me backward?" Lloyd asked.

"The assassin couldn't have…wait! There's something strange going on here. The street around this area is turning into sand!"

"Sand?" Luke asked. "What's going on here?"

"I don't know," Martin said. "It's spreading!" The two ran back to them. All seven stood and watched with wide eyes as the street before them crumbled and crushed into sand. The pit that was forming before them was in the shape of a perfect circle. And it grew wider and wider.

"Get Colette!" Lloyd shouted as he picked up a still unconscious Zelos.

Lyle was closest, so he picked her up as quickly as he could. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."

"Thank you, Lyle." It wasn't until after he said this that he wondered if he could follow through with it.

Martin ran up to him. "Do you have her?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

The entire group backed away at the ever-expanding expanse. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. Nearby houses lost their support and fell into the pit. They were promptly swallowed up, never to be seen again. Lyle wondered if this would keep going until the entire town was erased from existence. Luckily, it stopped.

Now everything was silent. It seemed like the entire world is taking time to breath. With the exception of seven unfortunate souls who watched this event unfold. They were holding their breath. They knew something huge was about to happen and waited for it.

Suddenly, the sand pit filled itself completely, flattening out. An earthquake rumbled through the town, causing some of the unstable structures near the pit to fall in and force the group to struggle to keep their balance. Suddenly, something came out of the expanse, but the sand was thrown up into the air, concealing it. The wind picked up and blew sand into their eyes. They couldn't see a thing.

This was so frustrating! The thing that they were waiting for finally happened and they can't see it. They couldn't tell whether it was a monster, a person, or a teddy bear.

Finally, the wind died back down. The pit was still full of sand. That was the only thing still there. Whatever came out was gone. Where did it go?

"BEHIND YOU!" Colette shouted. Everyone turned around just in time to see a giant maw diving towards them at an extremely fast speed, eager to swallow them all up.

"SCATTER!" Lloyd shouted. Everyone split off in different directions except for Lyle.

He stood there staring into the creature's throat, frozen in place and terrified. That maw reminded him too much of his dream; everything from being enveloped in complete darkness to being broken down piece-by-piece. He couldn't imagine going through that again. Actually, he didn't _want_ to imagine going through that.

"Lyle! What are you doing?" Lloyd's voice shouted. "Get out of there!" That snapped Lyle out of his thoughts and he managed to start running. He ran a little slower than the rest because of Colette weighing him down. It was going to be close.

It missed him by a hair. The creature dived into the ground, forming yet another sand pit. It expanded much more rapidly than the first one. The ground beneath Lyle's feet crumbled and he fell in with Colette falling out of his arms.

They rolled all the way to the bottom. Luckily, the creature—whatever it was—disappeared under the ground before they bumped into it.

Lyle was getting back on his feet when he realized something. The buildings that fell in before were completely buried by the sand. So why aren't they getting swallowed up?

Colette was groaning from the sand entering her wounds. There was no time to worry about that right now. Oddly, Lyle didn't feel much more pain than he already was. Why is that? He saw that Colette was on her back and not moving. He immediately half-stumbled, half-walked to the Chosen and knelt beside her. "Colette, are you alright?"

"I'll be fine. Don't worry."

"You always say that, even when it's not true. Hold still." Lyle never had very much expertise with medicine, but even he knew that getting sand in a wound is never good.

"Lyle, Colette, are you okay?" a voice came from above. Lyle glanced up to see Lloyd standing over the edge. He was about to tell him to get back, but he realized that it was no longer expanding.

"Colette has sand in her wounds. We need to get her out as soon as possible."

Martin appeared beside Lloyd, followed by Luke. "Lyle, are you alright?"

"I'm fine. It's Colette we need to worry about."

"Can you climb up?"

"It looks pretty steep. I doubt I'll be able to do it while carrying Colette. We need to get her out some other way."

"I can move, Lyle," Colette said. Lyle turned to her. Surprisingly, she was on her feet. Although, he could tell that she was in a lot of pain. She was truly strong.

She started climbing up the pit. Lyle immediately ran to her side, took hold of her arm, and started pulling her up. Suddenly, the ground started shaking again. Genis' voice rang out, "GUYS! IT'S COMING BACK!"

Right as he said that, sand suddenly spewed out everywhere about a block away. The creature ejected itself out of the ground. Now Lyle got a good view of it. It looked something like a worm except it had a massive, toothless, horizontal maw, two eyes—one on each side, spines running all the way down the body to the forked tail at the end. It was also gigantic. It must've been about two hundred feet long and ten feet wide.

While it was in the air—how it could fly was anybody's guess—it was constantly roaring as if it were announcing its presence to the world. It spun around in circles above the town, searching for prey. As it just so happened, a boy and the little Chosen were trapped helplessly in a sandpit. The creature dove for them. It gave out one long roar and opened its two-pronged maw wide, eager to consume its next meal.

"WE NEED TO MOVE!" Luke shouted when he saw it coming.

"No kidding!" Lyle shouted back. "Colette first!" He started yanking her up more urgently while she kept trying to climb on her own. The trio reached down to help her up, but she couldn't quite reach. Lyle wasn't going to do this, but now he had no choice. "Sorry about this, Colette!"

"Sorry about wha—AAAAH!" she yelped as Lyle placed his hand on her behind and pushed her up. That was enough. All three grabbed onto her arm and pulled her up. The sandworm was now much closer and coming fast. Now that Colette was safe, the three turned their attention on Lyle. As soon as his hand reached up, they grabbed hold of it and yanked him up, almost tearing his arm off in the process.

Once again, it was a close one. Right as Lyle cleared the pit, the creature dove into it, causing sand to shoot up in the air. Eventually, it disappeared.

"Take cover!" Lloyd shouted. He pointed to a nearby house. "In there! Quick!" He picked up Colette while Martin, unfortunately, had to carry Zelos. All stampeded inside. Immediately, they stumbled upon the living room. Once the two carriers laid the wounded in the far corner, Martin and Lloyd sat on the loveseat while Lyle, Jane, and Luke sat on the couch. Marta sat down on the floor next to the wounded. Genis remained by the door, watching the outside.

"What was that thing?" Martin asked.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me?" Lloyd asked.

"I'm not. I'm just throwing that out there."

"Genis, do you know?"

"All I have so far is that it's a worm, it flies, and it eats people. That's all I have."

"Do you know of any weaknesses?"

"I just said that's all I have!"

"Okay," Martin said. "Luke, do you have any ideas? You're our local expert on animals."

"It's a little like those sand worms from Dune. That's all I got."

"Dune?" Martin asked. "Yeah…Dune! That's it! How did they kill those sandworms on that movie?"

"If I remember correctly, they either need to apply electric shock to each individual segment or drop a nuke down its mouth."

"Umm…I hate to bring this up, Luke," Lyle said, "but I didn't see any segments on that thing. And also, we don't have access to nuclear weapons."

"There goes that idea," Martin grumbled.

"Nuke?" Genis asked.

"It's a powerful weapon capable of wiping out an entire city and contaminate the area with radiation for years, perhaps decades."

"I see. We have a similar—wait. That's it! I think I know how we can kill this thing!"

"How?" Marta asked.

"We just use the mana cannon built into the Rheairds."

"Didn't we leave those at the Otherworldly Gate?" Lloyd asked.

"While you guys were busy talking with Orochi, I went ahead and packed them away."

"Really? That's great news! Where are they?"

"Back at Lyle's house."

"What? You just left them there?"

"We weren't going to go flying halfway around the world. It was just going to be a search-and-rescue in a town about a mile from where we appeared. Not to mention the fact that I didn't know we were going to be attacked by a giant sandworm!"

"Okay, okay, you made your point. Maybe Sheena will find them and bring them along."

"Maybe."

"Can we focus here?" Lyle asked. "We still need to-." He was cut off when the earth rumbled once again and the sandworm revealed itself a couple blocks down. Just like before, the creature was roaring and circling the town. "Good thing we took cover, huh?"

"Maybe not," Genis said.

"What?"

"I'll be right back." Genis ran outside. He was tracking the creature.

"Genis, get back in here!" Lloyd shouted. He ignored him.

Suddenly, he ran back with a panicked look on his face. "IT'S COMING THIS WAY!"

Lloyd and Martin swore, leapt off of the loveseat, and picked up the wounded. Everyone else bolted out the door. First went Genis, followed by Luke, Jane, and Lyle. Once they were out, they turned around and laid eyes on the sandworm. It was closing in from the side of the house where the neighboring building shielded it from view. If Genis hadn't stepped out, they never would've seen it coming.

"Martin! Lloyd!" Lyle shouted. "Hurry up! It's closing fast!" Right as he finished shouting, the duo finally emerged from the building and hurried out. Once again, it was close. The sandworm nicked the roof of the neighboring house, sending bricks and shingles flying in every direction.

The creature went straight through the house, shooting solid brick everywhere, shattering windows, and causing it to crumble and collapse under its now unstable foundation.

Martin and Lloyd felt little bits of debris fall on them, but luckily, they weren't hurt.

Just like before, a sand pit formed and expanded quickly. The destruction wrought was quickly swallowed up as it formed. Again, why are those buildings buried under that sand when he and Colette were not?

As the pit expanded, the buildings on either side fell in. However, right as they were about to disappear beneath the sand, they stopped sinking. This puzzled Lyle at first. They were sinking and then they were not sinking. What's going on?

Then it hit him. The sand solidified when it stopped expanding. He and Colette were lucky that it did so when they fell in.

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "How did it know we were in there?" Lloyd asked. "It was underground when we went inside."

Everyone stood in the middle of the street, keeping an eye out for when it appears.

"That's what I was worried about," Genis said. "I was afraid that it had the ability to see through solid objects."

"How can it do that?"

"I don't know. None of us knows anything about this creature."

"Well," Martin spoke up, "there are technologies in our world that allow us to see heat signatures called infrared."

"Really?" Lloyd asked. "That sounds awesome!"

"There he goes again," Genis grumbled.

"We can figure out how it was able to see us later," Marta said. "Right now, we need to find a way to kill this thing. Any ideas?"

"The first thing we need to do," Lloyd said, "is find its weakness."

"That should be obvious, even to you, Lloyd," Genis muttered.

"It _is_ obvious to me!"

"If it's so obvious, then why did you say it out loud?"

"Geez, shut up!"

"_You _shut up!"

"You _both_ shut up!" Luke shouted. "We don't have time for this!"

Everyone was caught off guard by Luke's sudden outburst. He hadn't said a whole lot ever since this began. Once he realized what he did, he looked away and grew quiet once again.

Once Martin recovered, he said, "Luke's right. We can't have you guys arguing like that. It's childish and immature. Right now, we just need to…" He was interrupted when the ground started shaking once again.

"Oh, no," Marta said. "It's coming again!"

"Everyone, keep your eyes moving," Lloyd said. "Don't focus on one spot! We need to find this thing as soon as possible."

While the entire group kept an eye out, Lyle felt sweat beading on his forehead. The day was starting to get hot and humid. Plus, with everything that's happened today and last night…. Last night…. Something just hit him. Could it be coincidence that the night before the assassins came, he had that terrible nightmare? Could they be connected somehow? What if—

The emergence of the sandworm interrupted his thoughts. Just like before, it started circling above the town, roaring as it went. It was looking for them.

"Get ready," Lloyd said.

"Maybe it would be a good idea to split up?" Genis asked. "That way, it can't hit all of us."

"That's a good idea, but what if we stuck together? We'd automatically know where it's going to hit."

"Our chances would be much better if we split up."

"Well, alright. Everyone chooses their own direction. Run!"

"Too late!" Marta shouted. The creature had found them and started diving with its jaws open and waiting.

"SCATTER!" They didn't hesitate.

Lyle ran in the direction the creature was coming from. Maybe it'll pass right over him. However, as he was running, he glimpsed up at the thing. All he could see was the maw and the bottom of the creature. The maw…being swallowed up inside would be a terrible way to die. With nothing but darkness surrounding you and feeling your body slowly dissolve into nothingness. Truly terrible…

And then an idea occurred to him. He looked around and realized that Martin and Marta were following him. Was he really that deep in thought?

The sandworm soared over them, casting an enormous shadow on the town and them. It went straight through the street and made yet another sand pit.

"I've got it," Lyle said. "I think I know how we can strike at this thing."

"You do?" Martin asked. "Would you care to enlighten us?"

"In a second. Let's gather everyone up, first."

"Time is of the essence, Lyle," Marta reminded him.

"I know that. Let's hurry."

The three of them ran back towards the newly formed sand pit. Luckily, it wasn't big enough to block the whole street so they edged their way across the side. Lyle went first, then Marta, and finally, Martin. "Be careful," Marta said.

"I got it," Lyle said. "The one we should be worried about is Martin. He's the one carrying Zelos. Speaking of which—hey, Martin! Are you doing okay?"

"Just fine," he replied with some strain in his voice. "You know, mom never said to pick up strangers. Now I know why."

"I'm getting worried," Marta said after a brief pause. "He's been unconscious for a long time."

"That's what's on my mind as well. So it's not normal for someone to be unconscious for this long?"

"Well, not necessarily. It's normal for someone who's severely wounded to be out for hours, maybe even days at a time. Perhaps even weeks. But someone armed with an exsphere should have recovered by now."

"What is an exsphere, anyway?"

"It's a special gem that"—

Suddenly, they heard someone shout from the direction they were headed, "Hey, are you guys alright?" It was Lloyd, with Colette still in his arms who from where they were standing, appeared to be unhurt.

Lyle sighed. He could never seem to catch a break. "We're fine!" he shouted back. "Gather everyone up! I have an idea!"

"Okay. I'll see if I can find them."

He was about to rush off with Colette, but apparently she lifted her head and said something. Lyle was out of earshot. Lloyd shook his head. They were still too far for Lyle to figure out what they were saying, but he could tell they were arguing. What could be worth arguing over here and now?

Lyle, Marta, and Martin reached the other side without falling in, luckily. They ran over to Lloyd. He turned to them and held out Colette to Lyle. "Take care of her."

"But, that's not what I meant," Colette said.

As Lyle carefully took her from him, he said, "I know what you meant, Colette. First off, I thought we agreed that you would never talk that way ever again. Second, you know none of us would let you do that. And third, if it applied to you, it would apply to Zelos as well. You don't want two of us to die, do you?"

Lyle's eyes grew wide. _Die? What are they talking about?_

I'll be back, I promise."

"But Lloyd…" she pleaded, but Lloyd had already turned around and disappeared in between still-intact houses on the street.

"What was that all about?" Lyle asked Colette. She remained silent. "Colette?"

She suddenly snapped back into reality and looked up at him. "What?" His breath caught. A single tear was trailing down her left eye.

"What's wrong, Colette? Why are you crying?"

Despite her sadness, her voice remained strong. "I'm sorry, Lyle, but it's…a private matter."

Lyle gulped. What is she trying to hide? And what does this secret have to do with her and Zelos dying? "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"

She managed a weak, "Yes."

"Well, if you change your mind, I'm here."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"Personal matter, my eye," Marta said. "She's going to talk now."

"Marta, it's her affair," Lyle said.

"No, it's not. Don't think we wouldn't figure it out, Colette."

"What are you talking about?"

"I know what you were going to do, Colette. Geez, if you weren't hurt already, I'd smack you across the face!"

Martin stepped in between her and the other two. "What is up with you, Marta?"

"She was going to sacrifice herself!"

Lyle's jaw dropped. Martin whipped back around to face Colette. "Is this true?"

As an answer, she tried to burrow deeper into Lyle's arms.

So that's it. She felt she was slowing down everyone and that their chances against the sandworm would be better without her. Lyle wasn't sure what to think of this. The fact that she was willing to give herself up was noble, but unnecessary. They've evaded fine so far. Then again, the key phrase was "so far."

"Maybe this will help," Lyle said. She looked up at him again. "I think I know how we can kill this monster."

Her eyes brightened a little. "What is it?"

He thought about telling her to wait awhile, but perhaps hearing this would be what she needed. "Do you remember when it first appeared? That _ting_ sound? That was probably Lloyd's twin blades striking the creature. That suggests that that thing is covered top to bottom with armor. But, there's only one place where it doesn't have armor. Do you know where that is?"

Colette shook her head. "Quit keeping us in suspense," Marta said. "We need to know."

"Fine. The mouth! Right before it strikes, it opens its mouth wide open. If we time it right, we can strike there. The only problem with that is, the one doing the striking will have little time to run."

"I see," Martin said. "That could work. We'll need someone with ranged attacks. Who should it be?"

"Lloyd is the fastest of all of us," Marta said. "And he has a number of ranged attacks at his disposal. He'll be perfect as bait."

"Right, then," Lyle said. "Let's do that."

As if on cue, the earth shook once again. "Looks like we have no time to wait," Lyle said. "Let's go find Lloyd."

"Okay," everyone said.

They started running in the direction that Lloyd disappeared to, with Lyle falling behind somewhat. His arms were getting tired. They started to burn. The same went for his legs. If this keeps up for too long, he'll be too exhausted to move. And then…

The ground stopped shaking and the cries of the sandworm resounded across the town. It's looking for them now. They don't have much time.

They passed by the tallest building in the town. It was the Washington County Jailhouse. Standing about six stories tall, it stood like a guardian over the town, dwarfed only by the water tower. The first Jailhouse was at Weiser, but it was set ablaze and a lot of the inmates escaped. An extremely difficult manhunt ensued. It took the police a total of four days to catch all of the fugitives.

They decided to take the opportunity to move the jailhouse to Midvale. It was far away from other towns; too far to walk. And it was smaller, so it was easier to have a lockdown.

The only thing that seemed odd to Lyle was that it had a pretty small base, giving it the look of a miniature skyscraper. Who decided that?

The sandworm's roaring interrupted his thoughts. It was coming this way, but from what direction?

"There!"Martin shouted. Lyle and Marta turned to the direction he was pointing. Just like every other time, it was diving at them with its mouth wide open, ready to gobble them up.

"Go, go, go!" Marta shouted. They took off running. As they passed by the jailhouse, however, Lyle's legs suddenly gave. He collapsed on the ground, falling on Colette. She screamed initially, but it died quickly. Lyle groaned as he hit the ground.

Martin and Marta heard a thud as they were running. They whipped back around and saw what happened. They immediately ran back to the two on the ground.

"Lyle, Colette, are you alright?" Martin asked.

"I…can't move."

"What, why?"

Lyle worked up enough energy to roll off of the Chosen. "No time! Check on Colette!" He looked up at the maw in the sky. It was aiming right for them. And it was coming fast.

"There's no time for that, either!" Marta shouted. "No choice!" She stood up and took a step toward the creature.

"What are you doing, Marta?" Martin asked.

"There's only one option left."

Lyle was puzzled initially. What is she…? Then he figured it out. "Are you nuts?"

"Shut up! I need to time this right!"

Lyle thought about telling Martin to grab Colette and run away, but by that time, the monster would have hit his mark. Either they were all going to live, or they were all going to die.

Chapter 12 Coming Soon…


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Now, it was upon them. A white ball of energy suddenly formed in the palm of Marta's right hand. It began the size of the palm of her hand and then grew to an enormous size. It was almost as big as she was! _What is that?_ Lyle wondered. And then, right as the entire group was within the creature's jaws, she shoved it down its throat.

The creature stopped in its tracks and seemed to hover in midair as it let out a great cry. It was so loud that Lyle yelled out as he slapped his hands over his ears. The last thing he heard was Colette screaming. Suddenly, an explosion of smoke erupted around the creature. It blew everyone to the ground, with Marta landing on top of Martin.

"Wh-what happened?" Martin asked.

Lyle managed to summon enough energy to sit up. He looked around. "It's gone."

"I…I killed it?" Marta asked. She was as surprised as everyone else. "That's all it took?"

"You did it, Marta!" Lyle shouted. He slowly stood up, still exhausted. "If I had enough stamina left, I would kiss you at this point." Marta giggled, but her smile quickly faded. "What's wrong?"

"Something's off," she said.

"What do you mean?" Martin asked.

"Oh, Colette!" Lyle shouted. He turned around to check on the Chosen. She wasn't moving. "Oh, no. Marta!"

She ran over to her. The first thing she checked was her pulse. As she was doing that, Lyle noticed Colette's ear. "Oh, my… Look at this!" He pushed her head so that her right ear was facing up. "Is this bad?"

"Blood dripping out of an ear is typically bad, Lyle. Did you take a health class?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. Is she alright?"

"She's just unconscious. My guess is that when the monster roared in our faces, her supersensitive eardrums worked a little too hard."

"So she's deaf?"

"Temporarily. It will heal after awhile."

"Good. Man, what a day this is turning out to be."

"Tell me about it." She took out some cloth and wiped away the blood.

When comparing the blood to Colette's skin, Lyle realized that they were close to the same color. She was burned as badly as he was. Could that be why she barely moved so far? No, that couldn't be. All of these burns must've come from that massive wave attack from the assassin. All three of them moved around just fine afterwards. But then again, she has a knife lodged in her shoulder. And it was pretty deep. And she hit her head against the wall pretty hard when the house was thrust into the air. A concussion on top of the concussion from last night. It's been pretty hard for her.

But this brings up something else. Why did Sheena say that because he was badly burned he should be writing in pain on the ground? Shouldn't she be saying that to Colette and Zelos as well? Then again, both were unconscious at the time and she didn't know they were moving around before. Plus, it's entirely possible that Lyle is a lot stronger than she thinks. That would apply to Zelos and Colette as well. Ah, but then again, she's known both of them for a long time. She knows how strong they are. So why pick on Lyle?

He shook his head. _It's too confusing right now. I'll sort it all out later._

"Now that the creature is dead, we should find everyone else," Martin said. "We need to find a place to hide."

"Yeah," Lyle agreed. "Let's go before"—

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass, metal groaning, and bricks scattering echoed down the street. All three whipped around in the direction where it was coming from. Their eyes settled on the jailhouse. The miniature skyscraper's middle section exploded outwards. Lyle, Martin, and Marta stared in shock and surprise at what emerged: the sandworm.

A dozen questions flashed through Lyle's mind. Didn't Marta kill it? Was that a fake and this one real? Or that one real and this one fake? Are there multiple sandworms around this area? Did Marta not kill it after all?

The entire top half of the building broke off from the rest and fell off to the left. It broke apart into thousands of pieces when it hit the ground with a very loud crunch. Some of the debris shot out towards the group, but none of it quite reached them.

They were caught off guard. Lyle was just about to grab Colette when Martin dove at her first and picked her up. He and Marta ran down the street, but they didn't get far. Martin just barely started running with Colette in his arms when that creature impacted the street. The street expanding into yet another pit followed the crunch of crushing concrete.

Lyle turned around just in time to watch in horror as Martin fell in, along with Colette. "MARTIN!" He immediately ran back.

Marta shouted after him, "LYLE, WAIT!" He ignored her. As soon as he was close enough, he dove, felt his body smack against the street, and slid to the expanding pit. He successfully managed to grab hold of Martin's wrist. Martin's foot was in the sand, but he wasn't sinking. Lyle was surprised. Only a moment ago, he could barely move. And then he dived as if he didn't lose stamina at all. Not only did he have the energy to do it, he had the reflexes and the skill. He didn't learn any of this at any point in his life. _What's happening to me? _he thought.

Luckily, Colette remained balanced, laying on Martin's arms. She regained consciousness and was now looking about. "What's happening?"

"You're o-OOOOOAAAAAAAAH!" Lyle's body began to tilt into the pit. He forgot that it was still expanding. "Marta, Marta, Marta!" he shouted desperately. Right as he was starting to slip, he felt Marta grab onto his feet. "Oh, thank goodness!"

Martin was now knee-deep in the sand. "I can feel it. It's pulling me down!"

"Hang…on!" Marta strained to push out of her throat. "It should be over soon."

"I hope…" Lyle started, but was interrupted by metal groaning. _This can't be good._

All four glanced in the direction it was coming from: the jailhouse. What remained standing of it now seemed to loom over them more than before. They glanced down and saw that the sandpit had reached it. The building no longer had any support in that area.

Suddenly, the building started blocking the midday sun. It was now getting bigger and bigger. No. It was moving closer.

It was falling down on top of them. And they couldn't move.

"Hold on!" Marta shouted. She started straining to pull them up, but she wasn't strong enough to lift three people. Since she wasn't falling in, that must mean that the pit stopped expanding. It reached just far enough for that building to come toppling down on them.

"Marta, drop us, quick!" Lyle shouted.

"What?"

"JUST DO IT!"

Marta hesitated only for a second. By the time Lyle hit the bottom, Martin had set Colette down on the sand and began digging himself out desperately. Lyle scrambled to him and helped him out.

Even when Martin was freed, Lyle knew that they were too late. No matter how fast they went, the jailhouse would crush them. "Marta, run! It's too late!"

"But…"

"Don't 'but' me! Just run! We'll be fine!"

She turned around for a second, then glanced back at the falling building, and then, instead of running, dove into the sand pit. In any other situation, Lyle would have started shouting, but he no longer cared. Marta huddled around Martin with Colette in the middle. Lyle then put his arms around the two and shut his eyes tightly. He started praying that they would be rescued. If not, then he asked to let it end quickly.

Right as he finished, he suddenly heard the buzzing of something flying at an incredible speed. Then he heard concrete and metal crumbling and hitting the ground. It was really close. All of a sudden, there was a giant _boom!_ Lyle felt wind and heat batter his already burned body. And then only the sound of fire burning. What's happening?

Lyle's eyes opened and he looked up. To his surprise, there was no building waiting to crush him. Only empty space. Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. Scattered all over the street were tons of debris. Nearby, a fire had ignited in the house that was partially blown away.

He glanced at everyone else. They were equally surprised. "What just happened?" he asked.

"I'm not su—." Marta started, but what sounded like a jet engine roared over them and interrupted her. Lyle's eyes followed the direction the noise was coming from and saw a peculiar sight. It was a flying machine unlike any he had ever seen. It was small. Much smaller than any normal craft. What looked like a multi-colored…fire, for lack of a better term, was shooting out of the engine. "It's Sheena!" Marta shouted. "She used the mana cannon on the Rheaird to blow it away!"

"That's the Rheaird? It's smaller than I imagined it to be."

Marta immediately climbed out of the pit and took off running towards the flying machine. "Marta, what are you doing?" She ignored him.

"SHEENA! WHEN IT COMES UP, SHOOT THE MANA CANNON DOWN THE THROAT! AIM FOR THE THROAT!"

Lyle shifted his attention to Martin and Colette. Martin had already climbed out and was pulling Colette up. Lyle climbed out with surprisingly little effort, ran to his brother's side, and helped Colette out of the pit.

Once she was out, she slowly got on her feet. "Colette, wait!" She didn't respond whatsoever. "Colette, can you hear me?" She looked at him with a very confused look on her face.

"What's hap-?" She caught herself when she realized she couldn't hear a thing.

Lyle said slowly to her and exaggerated his lip movements. "Can you read my lips?" She nodded. "Okay. When the monster screeched out a minute ago, you fell unconscious and your ear started bleeding. You won't be hearing anything for awhile."

She nodded. The look on her face was so sad that Lyle grew depressed. _I hope for both our sakes you can get your hearing back soon._

That familiar rumbling went through the town once again. Sheena had come back around with Marta screaming from below even more desperately to tell her how to kill it. Lyle couldn't tell if she was hearing her or not. There was no indication at all. "Can you run, Colette?"

"I think so." It looks like she can talk just fine without her hearing.

"Alright. Get ready, just in case."

"Okay."

The creature now emerged once again. It began circling over the town like before. Sheena was now headed straight for it at blazing speed, like an arrow. Marta shouted once again, but Sheena was already out of earshot, if she was to begin with.

The sandworm must've seen prey, because it began diving at a spot some distance away. That must be where the others are. Well, some, at least.

Sheena began charging the powerful weapon. A black ball began forming at the edge of the barrel of the mana cannon, which was located in the middle of the front of the fuselage. It grew bigger and bigger and turned from a heavenly white to an aquatic blue.

As soon as it was the appropriate size, the cannon fired the shot. It impacted against the side of the creature's head, sending it flying and crashing into the ground like a snake cast away. That was all Lyle could tell what happened from that distance. Some of the houses that were still standing blocked the view. Lyle heard Marta curse. She had rejoined them.

"I guess she didn't hear me," she said. "But what's so strange is that she should have."

"I don't know, Marta," Martin responded. "That thing is pretty loud."

"Well, I suppose that's true. Anyway, we should head towards where that monster crashed. The others are probably there."

"Yeah."

The four of them took off running in that direction. Colette was a little slower than the rest, but she was moving, at least. Martin was getting tired, but he managed to keep up. Lyle was in the same condition. Marta didn't seem to be as exhausted as they were, but like Lloyd, she's been in situations similar to this. Sheena seemed to hover over where she shot the creature for a moment, and then descended.

"Do you think she killed it?" Lyle asked.

"I don't know," Marta replied. "The mana cannon, while not as strong as the original, is really powerful. But then, we don't know how strong the armor is. At the very least, we dealt a very hard blow."

"Well, that's something. How are you holding up, Colette?"

"Fine. I'm a little weak, but I can manage."

"Can you hear us?"

"Barely."

"That's a good sign."

"Obviously," Martin said.

A roar suddenly pierced their eardrums, forcing all of them to stop and slap their hands over their ears. Fortunately, it only lasted a moment.

"Why does it have to be so loud?" Lyle asked.

"Because it's angry?" Martin suggested sarcastically.

Lyle ignored him. "So it's still alive, then."

"I see that your habit of stating the obvious is more potent than ever." Lyle shot a look of annoyance at him. "Sorry, Lyle. It's been a rough day."

"Understatement of the century. Let's keep moving."

They resumed their course through the town. As they were running, Lyle saw how much damage the town has taken. The majority of the buildings were either damaged or completely gone. Very rarely were there any left untouched. _My hometown turned into a warzone._ Then again, it's possible that this was the only area that's been hit. Maybe the rest of the town has been left untouched. "A fool's hope…" The words of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings popped up into his mind. Maybe that's the kind of hope he has.

Lloyd came around the corner, followed by Genis, Jane, Luke, and Sheena. They ran towards the other group. "Lloyd!"Marta shouted. "We figured out how t—"

"RUN!" he shouted back. Suddenly, the house was blown to pieces behind them. The debris fell all over the street like the scattering of confetti. The sandworm emerged from the wreck and roared once it saw the other group. Instead of flying, it was now pursuing them on the ground. Lyle then noticed that it had a very large crack in the armor on its head. It knocked over an already half-gone house as it lunged at them.

Marta shouted, "Lloyd! Aim for th…"

"The mouth!" he finished. "I know! It didn't work!"

"Why not?"

"Let me try!" Sheena shouted. The creature was getting close to them. It opened its mouth wide open, hoping to ensnare the prey within. She whipped out six paper bombs and threw them into the sandworm's maw in quick succession. Before the monster reached them, the explosives detonated. It stopped in its tracks as green blood burst from its maw.

It just sat there as if it were in a daze. _What's it going to do? _Lyle thought. _Is it dying?_ Then it suddenly seemed to recover, roared once more, and then dove into the ground. "Oh, great. I thought we got it that time."

"Monsters like this are always hard to kill," Genis said as his group approached the other. "Though this one is harder than most."

"Yeah," Sheena agreed. "One of my explosives is usually more than enough to take down an everyday monster, but six only sends this one in a daze."

Seeing Sheena reminded Lyle of something very important. "Hey, what happened to Jason's mom and dad?"

"Oh…right." Sheena's expression turned sorrowful.

"No…" Lyle said.

"I'm sorry. By the time I got there, they were already dead. Someone stabbed both of them in their hearts."

Lyle ran his fingers through his hair in distress. "Why? Why did these assassins kill them? Their targets are Lloyd and…and me. It makes no sense! First, there was Sharon's parents that were dead. And now Jason's! Why target them?" Lyle then realized that he answered this before. "It's me!"

"What?" Lloyd asked.

"It's me!" he repeated. "All the bodies that we found so far. What do they all have in common?"

It only took a moment for Lloyd to catch on. "They're the parents of your friends!"

"Exactly!"

"Wait, Lyle," Genis said. "We only found two couples dead, both of which happened to be connected with you. It's possible that there's another pattern we're not seeing and that what you're seeing is entirely coincidence. Also that's not enough to establish a pattern, is it?"

"Well, I suppose that's true, but unless we find evidence otherwise, I think I'll stick with my theory."

"Whatever."

Sheena said, "I'm sorry, Lyle, but we can mourn them later. Right now, we need to plan our next move."

Lyle replied, "Yes, I'm going to sit down and cry my heart out and let myself get killed. OF COURSE I'LL MOURN THEM LATER!"

"Don't take that tone with me!" Sheena shouted back. "And we don't have time for this!"

Lyle sighed and dropped his head. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Forget about it," Sheena said. "So what's the plan?"

"Well, your explosives seem to be effective. You managed to get it off our backs pretty quick."

"Okay, but I used six of them." She reached under her shirt and looked into an inside pocket. Lyle had a flood of dirty thoughts shoot through his mind, but he quickly repressed them. "I only have nine left. I don't think that'll be enough."

"Not enough for the mouth, anyway," Genis said.

"Something tells me you have something else in mind," Lloyd said.

"The crack that Sheena made with the mana cannon. We plant even one explosive there, it'll be killed for sure."

"For sure?" Marta asked.

"Okay, maybe not, but still, it's a safer bet."

"Alright," Sheena said. "Now the question is how do I get it there? I'll need the perfect angle to throw it from."

"Can you do it on top of a building?" Lyle asked.

"Maybe. It'll need to be lured to the ground, however."

"Well, Lloyd is the perfect bait!"

"Hey!" Lloyd shouted.

"Of course, I mean that in the nicest way possible."

"Sure you do," Martin chimed in.

"Hey, guys," Genis said. "Can you focus for even one minute?" Before anyone could respond, he continued, "Wouldn't it be easier to just use the Rheaird instead of leaping off a building?"

"It would be easier, but there is one small problem."

"What's the problem?"

"Well…it's out of power."

"So? Summon Volt and charge it back up!"

"I can't! I can't summon in this world!"

Genis was caught off guard. "You…you can't summon?"

"No."

"Then how did you force that stalagmite out of the ground?"

"I didn't do that! The assassins did!"

"That's…strange. I thought for sure that was you."

"Well, it wasn't."

"Okay. Anyway, what about the other Rheaird?"

"Oh…uh…"

Genis sighed. "You forgot it back at Lyle's house, didn't you?"

"You guys were battling that thing! I didn't really think about bring it along!"

"You may have gotten stronger, Sheena, but you're still a clumsy assassin."

"Now who's having trouble focusing?" Lyle asked.

"Oh. Right. Here's what's going to happen. Lloyd will be bait since he's the fastest of all of us and Sheena will throw the explosive from the roof when the time is right. Everyone else should run as soon as it appears."

"Simple enough," Sheena remarked.

The ground began shaking once more. "Perfect timing," Martin said.

"Go, Sheena!" Lloyd shouted. Sheena entered the remains of the closest building which was what was left of the post office. She climbed up a stairway and ascended until she reached the third floor. All that was left of the floor was a couple of walls with gaps where the windows used to be. Still, it appeared to be stable. She reached the edge and looked down at Lloyd. She nodded to him and Lloyd nodded back. They're ready.

Lyle looked nervously around. Hopefully, this will be the last time he will feel the earth churn beneath him. The idea of being swallowed up by that thing… Lyle shook his head and suppressed that thought. It will, indeed, haunt him the rest of his life.

Then the worm emerged. As soon as it was spotted, Lyle and the others ran off down the street, leaving only Lloyd and Sheena behind. Only a few seconds passed before Lyle couldn't help but stop and turn around.

Lloyd started running down the ruined street toward the monster. As he ran, he raised his sword and brought it down, sending a Demon Fang toward it. The red wave impacted against the creature's armor harmlessly, but it was enough to get its attention. It roared and immediately dived in Lloyd's direction. Lloyd turned back around and bolted the other way.

Sheena pulled out her remaining paper explosives. Lloyd stopped right by the building. He would need to time this right. The creature opened its massive maw about to gulp down Lloyd.

It was closing fast. As soon as it was right on top of Lloyd, Sheena leapt off the building, aiming for the top of the creature's head.

The moment that happened, Lyle could tell that something was wrong. The angle that the creature was descending was too high. Was it going to miss? Lyle's blood chilled when he thought, _Is it aiming for _us?

But then the creature adjusted its angle of descent. That's when its true target finally dawned on Lyle: Sheena. This frightening conclusion occurred to her as well, because she threw the explosives into the maw. They detonated on impact, but it didn't deter it from its path. "SHEENA!" Lloyd shouted as he stared from below.

"Sheena!" Lyle shouted as he stared with horror as the mouth of the sandworm enclosed itself around Sheena.

Chapter 13 Coming Soon…

UPDATE: Hey, guys, this is Puddlejumper64. I've decided to start posting updates on this story. Yes, this series is that huge. For those of you who haven't read my description, I'm calling this the ultimate fanfiction. But enough of that and on to the actual update!

It's been several months since I posted the last chapter, but it's for a good reason: college. I've been extremely busy with homework and practicing. And I don't like to write the story in ALL of my free time. Well, with what little I get.

Also, I would like to note that there are a few plot holes I didn't notice until I posted the chapters. For example, the Symphonians had to change clothes to not draw attention, but they still carry their weapons? Stuff like that. So, as you can imagine, I'm not entirely satisfied with how it's turning out. Oh, don't worry, I don't plan on stopping; far from it. I just might do a rewrite later on.

Just one more thing. I have decided that the next book is going to be a Tales of Symphonia and D. Gray-man Crossover. I realize this seems really odd right now, but it will make sense when the time comes. Also, the title is Orchard of Mines: The Shadow Behind the Smile. That is all for now. If I have more news to share, I will post an update. Reviews are always welcome!


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